Memoir of John Cotton

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la 763 , 4/, J)/

HARVARD

COLLEGE
LIBRARY

MEMOIR

OF

JOHN COTTON,

BY

JOHN NORTON.

WITH A

PREFACE AND NOTES,

BY

ENOCH POND,

Frofenor of Tbeologj in the Theol. 8em. at Banfor, Maiot.

\ NEW- YORK ;

SAXTON & MILES,

FUBLIBHERS AND BOOKSELLERS,
205 BROADWAY.

[OOPT-miOHT 8ECUBBD.]

V9> = :i ^ ^ '^ . ^- . ^-\

.:M«^$& rMlfiF LIDRARY

TH( BEQUEST 8F
kVIRT MNSEN WNDftLt
1918

PREFACE.

The following memoir, I have reason to
believe, is very little known in New England.
It is not to be found in some of our largesl
find most ancient public libraries ; and indeed
1 am not sure that there is a copy in the
country, excepting that which now lies before
me. The original title-page of the work it
as follows :

Abel being dead, yet speaketh: or the Life
and Death of that deservedly famous man ol
God, Mr. John Cotton, late Teacher of the
Church of Christ, at Boston, in New England.
By John Norton, Teacher of the same Church,
Heb. xiii. 7. ** Remember them which have tht
rule over you, who have spoken unto you tht
word of God ; whose faith follow , considering
the end of their conversation J* London, printed
by Tho. Newcomb for Lodowick Lloyd, and are
%o be sold at his shop, next the Castle tavern, in
CornhUl. 1658.

I have thought it might be interesting to
Christians in Boston, to possess a memoir
of the venerable Cotton — first teacher of the
first church in the place* — him, out of re-
spect to whom their city received its namef —
and who, on account of his extensive influ-
ence and usefulness, was familiarly styled
" the Patriarch of New England," — prepared
by his almost equally learned and venerable
successor, Mr. Norton.

Presuming that readers in general will pre-
fer to receive the work as its author left it,
I have retained the obsolete spelling and
phraseology, making such alterations only as
seemed necessary in order to convey the
sense. And I hope none may be deterred
from perusing it on account of its antiquated
appearance. The sentences, though not con-
structed according to modern taste, are many

* Our Fathers distinguished between *^ Pastors, and Teach-
ers." See Eph. iv. 11. Mr. Wilson was first Pastor of the
first church in Boston; and Mr. Cotton first Teacher.

t The Indian name of Boston was Shawmut. By the Eng-
lish settlers, it was first called Tremount, or Trimounlain, from
its three hills. After the removal of Mr. Cotton, it received the
name of BostOD, from the place of his former residence in Eng-
land.

Ifr

&

of them weighty in sense. They were evi-
dently written by a man of genius, of thought,
of experience, and wisdom. And it requires
but little exercise, in order to become recon-
ciled to, and even pleased and interested with,
the style.

Whatever of interest I have been able to
gather relating to Mr. Cotton, aside from the
work before us, also such facts as may tend
to illustrate different portions of the work,
will be found, either in the margin, or in the
appendix, in the form of notes.

As .roost persons have a curiosity to know
something respecting the author, whose pages
they read, I shall conclude these prefatory
remarks with a short biographical sketch of
Mr. Norton,

This excellent man was born at Starford,
in Hertfordshire, England, May 6th, 1606.
He was admitted to the university when only
fourteen years of age, where he continued
until he had taken his first degree* On leav-
ing college, be became usher to the school,
and curate of the church at Starford, hi^

native place. At this time, a lecture was

I*

6

maintained there by an association of able
and godly ministers — by whose means young
Norton, though himself a minister, was awak-*
ened from sin, and convinced that he was a
stranger to the power and grace of the gospel,
A discovery of his exceeding vileness sur-t
prised and confounded hini, and for a time
drove him almost to despair; but at length
'the same Divine Spirit, whose strivings had
filled him with distress, brought him to accept
of Christ, and to rejoice in him with unspeak-»
able consolation.

He now gave himself wholly to his minis-
terial studies and labors, and soon became as
distinguished for his powerful and awakening
sermons, as he formerly had been for his
literary attainments. His accomplishments
rendered him a candidate for preferment ;
but preferments at that period were so clog-
ged with troublesome impositions, that Mr.
Norton, like most other conscientious young
ministers, declined accepting them. His an-
tipathy to Arminianism, and his dislike of the
ceremonies, excluded him from a consider-
able benefice, to which his uncle might have
helped him. Dr, Sibbs, master of Catharine

hall, Cambridge, earnestly solicited him to
accept of a fellowship in that college, but his
conscience would not permit him to do it.
He preferred to continue in a more private
course of life, till God should furnish him
with unexceptionable opportunities for greater
usefulness.

Seeing no prospect, as the times were, of
fin unobstructed exercise of his ministry in
his native land, Mr. Norton formed the reso-
lution of migrating to New England. Ac-
cordingly he embarked, in the year 1634, in
the same ship with the celebrated Thomas
Shepard ; but by a violent storm they were
driven back, and narrowly escaped with their
lives. The next year he renewed his voyage,
in company with Go\r. Winslow, of the Ply-
mouth colony ; and after encountering many
difficulties, arrived safely at Plymouth, in Oc-
tober, 1635. He was earnestly solicited to
remain at that place ; but he preferred a set-
tlement in the Massachusetts colony; and the
church in Ipswich made speedy application
to him to become their pastor. To this invi-
tation he acceded, and continued his faithful
labors with them about sixteen years.

8

During this period, one William Apollonias,
by direction of the clergy of Zealand, sent
over to New England a number of questions,
relating to our way of church government.
The task of replying to these questions de-
volved upon Mr. Norton ; and so successfully
did he execute it, as to meet the approbation,
not only of his brethren here, but of some of
the most learned divines in Europe.*

Mr. Norton was deeply concerned, with
several others, in preparing and recommend^-
ing the Platform of church discipline, agreed
to by the synod at Cambridge, in 1648.

A few years later, he was appointed by
the general court to write a treatise on the
sufferings and atonement of Christ, in answer
to a Mr. Pinchin, who had published a work,
relating to this subject, which was deemed
erroneous.

When Mr. Cotton of Boston was on his
death-bed, his church desired that he would

* Dr. Mather supposes that this reply of Norton, with the
preface by Cotton, was the first Latin work ever written in
New England. Fuller; the English historian, says, '^Of all
the authors I have perused concerning these opinions, none to
Bie was more informative than Mr. John Norton, one of no less
JeamiDg than piodesty, in \us answer to ApoUonius.''

recommend a fit person to succeed him ; and
he advised them to apply to Mr. Norton.
He was encouraged to give such advice by
two considerations, aside from the eminent
qualifications of the man. The first was, that
the church in Ipswich were favored with the
instructions of another excellent minister, Mr.
Rogers; and the second, that Mr. Norton
was contemplating a return to England, and
had already obtained the conditional consent
of his people to his departure. Accordingly,
after the death of Mr. Cotton, Mr. Norton
was applied to become his successor. The
church in Ipswich refused to dismiss him, but
consented that he should go and labor for the
benefit of the church in Boston. Within a
few years after, Mr. Rogers died, and the
church in Ipswich demanded that Mr. Norton
should return ; nor could they be brought to
consent to his dismission, till they were in a
manner compelled to it by the authority of
the general court.

During Mr. Norton's continuance in Bos-
ton, he was eminently useful, not only among
his own people, but by his advice and influ-

10

ence in all the churches, and in the general
affairs of the colony.

Upon the restoration of Charles II., it was
thought proper for the colonies to express to
him their loyalty, and seek the continuance
of their privileges, in a public address ; and
Mr. Norton and Gov. Bradstreet were sent to
England for this purpose. They embarked
in February, 1662, and returned in Septem-
ber of (he same year, bringing a letter from
the king, which, though the most favorable
tliey could obtain, was not altogether satis-
factory to many in the colony. Their dissat-
isfaction with the letter attached also, in some
measure, to those who brought it. In par-
ticular, it was said by the enemies of Mr.
Norton, that " he had laid the foundation of
ruine to all our liberties." Conscious that he
had served his country in the most faithful
manner, these charges grieved and distressed
him, and it is supposed with good reason
hastened his end. He died suddenly, April
5, 1663; and though he left no child to
mourn for him, the tears of some of the best
men in the colony bedewed his grave. Bos-

11

ton was filled with lamentation at the news of
his death ; and the venerable Richard Mather
delivered a sermon at his funeral, which, as
Cotton Mather expresses it, was rather wept
than preached.

" Mr. Norton's natural temper," says his
biographer, " had a tincture of choler in it ;
but as the sourest and harshest fruits become
the most pleasant, when tempered with a due
proportion of sweetness added thereunto, so
the grace of God sweetened the disposition
of this good man into a most affable, cour-
teous, and complaisant behavior, which ren-
dered him exceeding amiable."

" Vast was the treasure of learning in this
reverend man. He was not only an accurate
grammarian, but a universal scholar." He
was particularly skilled in scholastic divinity
—and he employed all his learning to illus-
trate and enforce the great subject of salva-
tion by grace.

In theology, Mr. Norton was a strict Cal-
vinist ; and in piety, and devotedness to what
he considered the cause of God and his
country, he had no superiors. He was re^

12

markable for the fullness and fervor of his
public prayers. " It even transported the
souls of his bearers to accompany him in his
devotions, wherein his graces would make
wonderful sallies into the vast field of enter-^
tainments and acknowledgments, with wbicb
we are furnished, in the new covenant, for
our prayers. I have heard of a godly man
in Ipswich," says Mather, " who would travel '
on foot from Ipswich to Boston, for nothing
but the weekly lecture there ; and would pro-'
fess that it was worth the journey, to be a
partaker in one of Mr. Norton's prayers."

The publications of Mr. Norton, excepting,
that which follows, and those which have been
already mentioned, were not numerous, but
were highly esteemed by Christians of that
age. His memory is still precious in our
churches ; and he is sure to be regarded by
succeeding generations as among the vener-^
ated Fathers of New England.

MEMOIR, he.

It is the priviledg of the blessed who lived in
heaven, whilst they lived on earth, that they
may live on earth, whilst they live in heaven.
And 'tis a part of the portion of the saints, that
they may enjoy both the life and death of those,
who both lived and dyed in the faith. Life and
death are yours. By faith Abel being dead
many thousand years since, yet speaketh,* and
will speak whiPst time shall be no more.

To suppress an instrument of so much good
with silence, were not only unthankfulness to
the dead, but an injury to the generation present,
and to many an one that is to come. To pre-
serve the memory of the blessed with the spices
and sweet odors of their excellencies and wel-

* 1 Cor. iii. 22. Hebrews zi. 4.

14

doing, recorded to posterity, is a super--^^yj»-
tian embalming, and a service which many
reasons perswade unto.

This we do as men ; glad to rescue and soli-
citous to preserve any excellency in the sons of
mortality, that may outlive death. Desire of
continuance in being, is in itself inseparable
from being. Dumb pictures of deserving mea
answer not ingenuous minds capable to retain
the memorial of vertue, the real effigies of their
spirits. Besides, unhappy emulation, happily
expiring with the life of the emulated, we gree-
dily own and enjoy such worthies, when they
are not, whom envy in a great degree, bereaved
us of, whilst they were.

This we do as friends ; hence the Smyrnean
poet of old, he is a true friend, who continueth
the memory of his deceased friend. And this is
done, not only in love to them, but also in love
to ourselves, Uiereby easing in part our loss, and
saving so much of our own lives. He may the
better be heard, who reckoned his friend the
one half of himself, when Moses intimates a
friend to be as our own soul. Whilst Calvin
lives, Bcza^s life is sweet ; when Calvin dyes,
death is the more acceptable unto Beza.

This we do as Christians : The deeds of those
worthies was the subject matter of the speech of

15

the Atints ; these all obtained a good report.'^ A
considerable part of the scripture is a divine tes-
timony of what the faithful have done and su(^
fered, recorded unto succeeding generations,
not only as a memorial of them, but as so many
practical demonstrations of the faithfulness of
God ; as so many full and glorious triumphs
over the world, sin, and Satan, obtained by
persons in like temptations, and subject to like
passions with ourselves : A quickening motive
unto such who have understanding of the times,
not to pretermit those testimonies, the signal
presence of God in whom manifests them to
have been fore-appointed, for the further com-
pleating of that cloud of witnesses which elevates
the beholders thereof, to lay aside every weight
that doth so easily beset us, and with the same
spirit to run the race that is set before us.

The mystery of God, concerning all the ,
transactions of his eternal purpose upon the
theatre of this world throucrhout the whole time
of time, being fully accomplished and revealed,
(that of Jesus Christ himself excepted) in none
of all the work which he hath gloriously done,
will he be admired so much in that day, as in
what he hath wrought in the lives and deaths of

* - ' I . III!

* Hebrews xi. Z&»

16

beleevers. The same object is as admirable
now as then ; that it is not so much admired is,
because it is not seen now so much as it shall
be then. The greatest object out of heaven is
the life and death of such upon earth, who are
now in heaven. You may beleeve it, what God
hath done for the soul of the least saint of some
few years continuance, were it digested into
order, would make a volume full of temptations,
signes, and wonders : A wonderful history, be-
cause a history of such experiences, each one
whereof is more than a wonder : No greater
acts than their obedience, both active and passive
unto the death. The sufferings of the apostles
may well be reckoned amongst the acts of the
apostles. No greater monuments than their re-
gister : to live and die in the faith of Jesus ; to
do things worthy to be written, and to write
things worthy to be done, both is good, and
doth good. 'Tis better with William Hunter,
than with William the Conqueror.* 'Tis better
to have a name in the book of Martyrs than in
the book of Chronicles. Martial conquerors
conquer bodies, by destroying. Confessors con-
quer souls, by saveing. They overcame by the

* William Hunter was a martyr who suffered in England in
the reign of queen Mary.— £ditor.

17

, blood of the Lamb, and the word of his testi-
mony, and Joved not their lives unto the death.

Amongst these, as the age that now is (through
grace) hath abounded with many worthies, so
this eminent servant of God, the subject of our
present meditation, may without wrong unto
any be placed amongst the first three. Had it
pleased the only wise God to have put it into his
heart to have imitated Junius* in leaving be-
hind him the history of his own life, how many
would have gladly received it, as Elisha did the
mantle which fell from Elijah^ when he was
caught up and carried from him into heaven :
but, Divine Providence otherwise disposing, it
remains, that they who have known his doc-
trine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suf^
fering, love, patience, persecutions, and afflic-
tion, do not suffer such a light to be hid under a
bushel, but put it on a candlestick, that it may
give light to them that are in the house.

His birth-place, Derby ^ we shaH not detain
the reader at, though a scituation in respect o
the purity, and frequent agitation of the air, at-
tempered (in the judgment of the orator) for the
breeding of better wits. Creatures are in their
kind subservient ; but, tis God, (not the air)

* Francis Junius, Professor of Divinity, at Leyden, who died
J602.^Ed.

2*

18

who puts wisdom into the inward parts, and
giveth understanding to the heart. As the wise
man and the fool die, so are they both ordinarily
born, in the same place. The glory of every
good and perfect gift is reserved for the Father
of lights. Let it be sufficient to acknowledge
both the place an honor to the person, and the
person an honor to the place. What Basil
sometime commended in the Martyrs, the same
is to be looked at in our confessor (or martyr,
which you please) namely, that his praise is not
to be derived from his country here below,
wherein he was born, but from his relation unto
that Hierusalem which is above, where he was
instrumentally born again, according unto
grace.

The mercy of a good descent, which the
joint-consent of all generations hath always
▼oted not to be the least part of outward happi-
ness, God blessed him with from the womb, his
parents being persons of considerable quality,
and of good reputation, their condition, as to the
things of this life, competent, neither unable to
defray the expence of his education in literature,
nor so abounding as to be a temptation on the
other hand unto the neglect thereof.

Crates the philosopher would needs go unto
the highest place of the cityaud cry in itiQ

19

audience of all the people, O men ! whether go^
ye ? why take ye so much pains to gather riches
for youc children, and have no care to train them
up, who should enjoy them ? And Plutarch
was wont to say, that he would add but this one
thing thereunto ; thai such men as these were,
are very like to them who are very careful for
the shooe, and take no care for the foot. But^
God, who had predetermined this then tender
plant to be a tree of life for the feeding of many
thousands, to be a chosen vessel to bear his name
before the nations, in way thereunto inspired
his parents with an effectuall sollicitude con-
cerning the ordering of the child in his minority.
The Grecians called timous erudition, Paideia; \
the word itself a loud admonition to wise fathers, \
not to suffer the childish years of their offspring,
to pass away without discipline.

Though vain man would be wise, yet may he -
be compared to the cubb, as well as to the wild
asses colt. Now we know the bear, when she
bringeth forth her young ones, they are an ill-
favored lump, a masse without shape, but by
continuall licking, they are brought to some
form. Children are called infants of the palms,
or educations,* not because they are but a span
)n length, but because the midwife, as soon as

. J 11* ' I M ■ I If

# Lam, ii. 20,

20

they are born, stretcheth out their joints with
her hand, that they may be more straight after-
wards.

This care in the parents was quickly above
expectation encouraged in the first-fruits of their
young son's proficiency, more and more increas-
ing great hopes concerning him throughout the
whole time of his minority, wherein he was
trained up in the grammar-school of Derby,

'Three ingredients Aristotle requires to compleat
a man : an innate excellency of wit, instruction,
and government. The two last we have by
nature, though in them man is instrumental :
the first we have by nature more immediately
from God. This native aptitude of mind, which

Lis indeed a peculiar gift of God, the naturalist
calls the sparklings and seeds of vertue, and
looks at them as the principles and foundation
of better education. These, the godly-wise ad-
vise such to whom the inspection of youth is
committed, to, attend unto; as spring-masters
are wont to take a tryal of the vertue latent in
waters, by the morning-vapors that ascend from
them. The husbandman perceiving the nature
of the soyle, fits it with suitable seed.

r- A towardly disposition is worse than lost
without education. The first impression sinks
deep, and abides long. The manners and

21

learning of the scholar, depend not a little upon
the manners and teaching of the master. Phy;^
sicians tell us, that the fault of the first concoc-\
tion is not corrigible by the second ; and expe-
rience sheweth, that errors committed in youth,
through defect of education, are difficultly cured
in age. Mephibosheih halteth all his life-long,
of the lameness he got through his nurses care-
lessness when he was a child. In the piety of
England's Edward the sixth, and Elizabeth,
history ingenuously and thankfully acknowledg-
eth the eminent influence of their tutors : but
amongst the causes of Julian's apostacie, the
same remembrancer mentioneth it as a principal
one, that he had two heathenish masters, Liba-
nius and lamblicus, from whom he drank in
great prophaneness. The best soil needs both^
tilling and sowing ; there must be culture as
well as seed, or you can expect no harvest.
What son is he, that the father chasteneth not ?
And that our daughters may be as corner-stones,
palace-stones, and (albeit the weaker vessels,
yet) vessels of precious treasure, they must be
carved, that is, suffer the cutting, engraving,
and polishing hand of the artificer. Since the
being of sin, doctrine and example alone are in-
sufficient ; discipline is an essential part of the
nurture of the Lord. The learned and famous j

22

Melancthon's words are remarkable, speaking of

Oiis schoolmaster : I (saith he) had " a master,
who was an excellent grammarian : he imposed
upon me such and such exercises, not permit-
ting any omission thereof: as often as I erred I
was punished, but with such moderation as was
convenient. So he made me a grammarian.
He was an excellent man ; he loved me as a
son, and I loved him as a father ; and I hope
we shall both shortly meet together in heaven :
his severity was not severity, but paternal disci-

t pline."*

Mans Belial-heart, because such, though it
cannot want,, yet it will not bear, the yoke of
education. Children love not to take physick,
though they die without it. The non-acknowl-
edgment hereof, is the denying of our original
disease ; the rejection of it, is to choose trans-
gression rather than correction. If you ask why
the famous Lacedemonian state lived and flour-
ished, when their sister-cities of Greece fell to
dissoluteness, and from thence to confusion ;

\ JCenophon tells us the reason thereof was, be-
cause the Lacedemonians established the educa-
tion of their youth by a law, which the other

) Grecians neglected.t Sure we are, that it is a

i »

* Mcl. Adam in vita Melanct.
t XeoophoD in lib. de Repub. Lacedem

23

statute in Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob,
Fathers bring up your children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. And unto the
training up of a child in the way he should go,
faithful is He which hath promised, that when
he is old, he will not depart from it.

About thirteen years of age he was admitted
into TnmVy-Colledge in Cambridge, much
about the age whereat the famous Juel* was
sometimes sent unto Oxford ; at the hearing of
whose lectures afterwards, his sometime tutof
Parkhurst saluted him with this distich :

Olim discipulus mihi chare Juelle fuisti :
Nunc ero discipulus, te renuente, tuus.

Great Juely thou a scholar wast to me :
Though thou refuse, thy scholar now I'll be.

'Tis not youth, but licentiousness in youth, that
unfits for an academical state ; such as P/a7os-
iratus long since complained of, who stain an
Athenian life with wicked manners. The prince
of the PeripateticJcs describing his hearers, dis-
tinguisheth between youths in years, and youths
in manners : such who are old in days^ yet
youths in disposition, he rejects : such who are

3

* John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, who defended the Engllsb
church against Popery. He died jid71,— Ed.

24

youths in age, but seniors in spirit and beha*
viour, he admits into his auditory. Junius tel-
leth us, that his grandfather was wont to write
to his father Dionysius, when a student in the
universities of France, with this salt superscrip-
tion : Dionysio dilecto Jllio, misso ad studeU'
dum: To Dionysius my beloved son, sent to
^study. Idleness in youth is scarcely healed
without a scar in age. Life is but short ; and
our lesson is longer then admits the loss of so
great an opportunity, without a sensible defect
afterward shewing itself. Bees gather in the
spring, that which they are to live upon in the
winter ; therefore. Fox bishop of Winchester
willed the students of that colledge, whereof he
was a benefactor, to be as so many bees. Seneca
admonisheth his Lucilius, that those things are
^ to be gotten whilst we are young, which we
^must make use of when we are old.* Accord-
ingly God, who had set apart our student to be
a Junius, not a Dionysius, inclined his heart
unto such attractive diligence, and effectual im-
proving of opportunities, whence his profiting in
the arts and languages above his equals so far
commended him unto the master and fellows, as
that he had undoubtedly been chosen fellow of
that colledge, had not the extraordinary expence

* Juyiem parandum, seni uteBdmn est.

25

about the building of their great hall at that
time put by, or at least deferred, their election
until some longer time.

From Trinity he was removed to Emanuel^
that happy seminary both of piety and learning.
The occasion I cannot now learn : howsoever,
it may call to minde that maxim of the herba-
lists, Planted translatio est planieB perfectio ;
the transplantation of a plant, is the perfection
of a plant. In that society the Lord gave him
favor, so that in due time he was honored with
a fellowship amongst them, afler a diligent and
strict examen, according to the statutes of that
house. Wherein this is not unworthy the taking
notice of; that when the poser came to examine ~^
him in the Hebrew tongue, the place that he
took trial of him by was that Isaiah 3, against
the excessive bravery of the haughty daughters
of Sion; which hath more hard words in it,
than any place of the Bible within so short a
compass ; and therefore, though a present con-
struction and resolution thereof might have put
a good Hebrician to a stand, yet such was his
dexterity, as made those difficult words facil,
and rendred him a prompt respondent. This
providence is here remarkable concerning him ;
that whereas his father (whose calling was to-
wards the law) had not many cUeiitf that made

3

26

tis6 of his advice in law-matters before, it pleased
God after his son's going to Cambridge to bless
him with great practice, so that he was very
able to keep him there, and to allow him liberal
maintenance : Insomuch that this blessed roan
hath been heard to say, God kept me in the
yUniversity,

He is now in the place of improvement,
amongst his dcpdiLidkoi^j beset with examples, a&
so many objects of better emulation. If he
slacken his pace, his compeers will leave him
behind ; and though he quicken it, there are
still those which are before. Notwithstanding
Themistocles excelleth, yet the trophies of Mil"
Hades suffer him not to sleep. Cato, that Heluo,
that devourer of books, is at Athens, Ability
and opportunity are now met together; unto
both which industry, actuated with a desire to
know, being joined, bespeaks a person of high
expectation. The unwearied pains of ambitious
and unquiet wits are amongst the amazements
lof ages. Asia and Egi/pt can hold the seven
wonders ; but the books, works, and motions of
ambitious mindes, the whole world cannot con-
tain. It was an illicit aspiring after knowledge,
which helped to put forth Eve^s hand unto the
forbidden fruit : the less marvel if irregenerate
and elevated wits have placed their sumnvum

27

bonum in knowledge, indefatigably pursuing it
as a kind of deity, as a thing numinous, yea, as
a kind of mortal4fn mortality. j

Diogenes, Dtmocritus, and other philosophers,
accounting large estates to be an impediment to
their proficiencie in knowledge, dispossessed
themselves of rich inheritances, that they might
be the fitter students ; preferring an opportunity
of study before a large patrimony. Junius, yet
ignorant of Christ, can want his country, neces-
saries, and many comforts ; but he must excell.
Through desire a man having separated himself,
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom,
Prov, 18. 1. The elder Plinius lost his life in
venturincr too neer to search the cause of the
irruption of the hill Vetruviusj* 'Tis true,
knowledge excelleth other created excellencies,
as much as light excelleth darkness : yet it
agreeth with them in this, that neither can ex-
empt the subject thereof from eternal misery.
"Whilst we seek knowledge with a selfish interest,
we serve the decree ; and self being destroyed
according to the decree, we hence become more
able to serve the command. The treasure
which man irregenerate travelleth for, as in-

9 Now called Vesuvius. PJiny was sufibcated by the smoke
jof the mountain, A. D. 79.— Ed.

28

tending it for himself, man Tegei^erate expends
for God.

As he was a lover of labor, so he was commu-
nicative, a diligent tutor, and full of students
committed to his care. He was a didactical
man, both able, and apt to teach. Ability to
instruct youth, argueth a wise-man. To guide
roan, Nazianztn accounted the art of arts. To
be willing to teach, argueth a good man ; good
is communicative. Such was his academical
dexterity, that he could impart (as Soaliger
speaks) the felicities of wit to his hearers ; so
accommodating and insinuating the matter ia
hand, as his pupils might both perceive their
profiting, and taste the sweetness of that wherein
they profited. Thus by schoole-stratagems, he
won the hearts of his scholars both to him-
self, and to a desire of learning ; they were as
Socrates and Alcibiades ;* or rather as the pro-
phets, and the sons of the prophets : his pupils
were honorers, and lovers of him; he was a
f tutor, friend and father unto them.t

The manner of his conversion take in his
own words (as neer as can be remembred)

* Mellific. Historic, par. 1. in Historia Alcibiadis.

t Mather says that Mr. Cotton was Head Lecturer, Dean,
and Catechist in his college, and became a tutor to many
scholars. — £o.

29

thus. During his residence in the universitjr/
God began to work upon him under the ministry
of Mr. Perkins* of blessed memory. But the
motions and stirrings of his heart which then
were, he suppressed ; thinking that if he should
trouble himself with matters of religion, accord-
ing to the light he had received, it would be an
hindrance to him in his studies, which then he
had addicted himself unto. Therefore he was
willing to silence those suggestions and callings
he had. from the Spirit inwardly, and did wit-
tingly defer the prosecution of that work until
afterwards. At length, walking in the field,
and hearing the bell toll for Mr. Perkins who
then lay dying, he was secretly glad in his
heart, that he should now be rid of him who
had (as he said) laid siege to and beleaguered
his heart. This became a cause of much af-
fliction to him, God keeping it upon bis spirit,
with the aggravation of it, and making it an
effectual meanes of convincing and hOmbling
him in the sight and sense of the natural enmity
that is in m^n's nature against God. After J
wards, hearing doctor Sibbs^i (then Mr. Sibbs)
preaching a sermon about regeneration, where
he first shewed what regeneration was not ;

* See Appendix, Note A.

t Master of Catharine Hall, Cambridge.— Ed.

3 *

30

when opening the state of a civil man, ^e saw
his own condition fully discovered, which through
mercy did drive him to a stand, as plainly seeing
himself to have no true grace. All his false
hopes and grounds now failed him ; and so he
lay a long time in an uncomfortable despairing
way; and of all things, this was his heaviest
burthen, that he had wittingly withstood the
meanes and offers of grace and mercy which he
found had been tendred to him ; till it pleased
God to let in some word of faith into his heart,
to cause him to look unto Christ for healing,
which word (if memory faileth not) was dis-
pensed unto him by doctor Sibbs ; which be-
gat in him a singular and constant love of
doctor Sibbs^ of whom he was also answcrably
beloved.

That which first made him famous in Cam'
bridge, was his funeral oration for doctor Some,
master of Peter-house ; so accurately performed,
in respect of invention, elegancy, purity of style,
ornaments of rhetorick, elocution, and oratorious
beauty of the whole, as that he was thenceforth
looked at as another JTenophon, or Musa Attica,
throughout the University. Some space of time
intervening, he was called to preach at St.
Maries, where he preached an University-Ser-
moh^ with high applause ot ai^demical wits so

31

Uiat the fame of his learning grew greater and
greater. Afterwards being called to preach in
the same place, as one oration of Pericles left
the hearer with an appetite of another ; so the
memory of his former accurate exercises filled the
colledges, especially the young students, with a
fresh expectation of such elegancies of learning,
that the curious and Corinthian wits, who prefer
the Muses before Moses, who taste Plato more
than Pauly and relish the orator of Athens far
above the preacher of the cross, (like QuintilU
an^s numerous auditory, sufficient to tempt the
abilities of the speaker) flock to the sermon with
an Athenian itch after some new thing, as to
the ornaments of rhetorick, and abstruser no-
tions of philosophy. But .his spirit now savoring
of the cross of Christ more than of humane liter-
ature, and being taught of God to distinguish
between the word of wisdom, and the wisdom of
words ; his speech and preaching was not with
the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the
demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The
disappointed expectation of the auditory soon
appeared in their countenances ; and the dis-
couragement of their non-acceptance returned
faim unto his chamber not without some sadder
thoughts of heart. Where he had not been
long alone^ but lo, doctor Preston (luVi^tL tsasX&x

i

32

Preston) knocks at his door, and coming in, ac«
quaints him with his spiritual condition, and how
it had pleased God to speak effectually unto his
heart by that sermon : after which, doctor Pres-'
ion ever highly prized him, and both fully and
strongly closed with him :* Which real seal of
God unto his tninistry comforted his soul, far
above \^at the present less-acceptance of the
auditory had dejected him, or their former ac-

Iceptance encouraged him. This brings to mind
that celebrated story of the conversion of the
Heathen Philosopher at Nice, which God wrought
by the means of an ancient and pious confessor,
plainly declaring un|:o him the doctrine of faith,
after that many Christian Philosophers had by
philosophical di^u^^tio^s laboured in vain.t
Christ evidently held forth, is divine eloquence,
thq eloquence of eloquence. God will not have
it said of Christ, as Alexander said of Achilles^
that he was beholden to the pen of him that
published his acts. 'Tis Christ that is preached,
not the tongue of the preacher, to whom is due
all praise. Such instances conclude, that Paul

lis more learned than Plato, We must dis-
tinguish between ineptness of speech, carnal
rhetorick, and eloquent gospel-simplicity ; be-

* See Appendix, Note B. \ Sec A-ppendix, Note C.

33

tween ignorance, ostentation, and learning.
The preacher sought to find '•out acceptable
words, and \yords of truth. J

His Concio ad Clerum, when he proceeded
bachelor of divinity (after he had been Sit Boston
about half a year) was very much admired and
commended. His text was Mat, 5. 13. Vos
estis sal terrce; quod si sal infatuatus fucrit,
quo salietur 7 Ye are the salt of the earth :
hut if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith
shall it be, salted? In handling of which, both
the weight of the matter, elegancie of phrase,
rhetorical strains, and grave, sweet, and spiritual
pronnntiation, rendred him yet more famous.
The like did his answering of the Divinity-Act
in the schools, having a very acute opponent,
Mr. William Chappell^ to dispute with him.*
So that in Cambridge the name of Mr. Cotton
was much set by.

Unto this earthen vessel thus filled with hea-
venly treasure, Boston in Lincolnshire made
their address, saying, Com^ and help us ! And
in that candlestick the Father of spirits placeth
this burning and shining light: To whom he
removed from Cambridge, about the 28th year of

* Dr. Chappell, a zealous Armenian, was afterwards Provost
of Trinity College, Dublin.— £d.

34

his age. At the first, he met with some ob-
structions from the diocesan, then bishop Bar-
loe, who told him that he was a young man, and
unfit to be set over such a divided people.
Mr. Cotton being ingenuous, and undervaluing
himself, thought so too, and purposed to return
to the college again : but some of his Boston
friends understanding that one Simon Biby was
to be spoken with, who was neer to the bishop,
they presently charmed him, and so the business
proceeded without further trouble, and Mr. Cot"
ton was admitted into the place afler their man-
ner in those days.*

Two things are here not unworthy of observa-
tion, (which he would sometimes speak of to his
friends:) First, that in the beginning of his
ministry, he was exercised with some inward
^troubles which much dejected him. No sooner
had Christ received his mission into his publick
ministry, but he is led into the wihlerness to be
tempted of the Devil. Wise Heman suffered
the horrors of God, and was laid in the lowest
pit.t The doctor of the Gentiles stood in need
of being buffeted by Satan. The tempter is in
Christ's hand, and an instrumental winnower of
the disciples. His fiery darts, through the

* See Appendix, Note D. t Ps. Ixxxviii. 6.

35

influence of him who succors those that are
tempted, cleanse as well as smart ; and this
cleansing efficacie remains when the smart is
over. From the expierience of this archer, are
the choise shepherds in Israel. Good spirits are
much bettered by their conflicts with the worst
of spirits: spiritual preachers are oflen trained
up in the school of temptation : so true is that
theological maxim ; meditation, prayer, and
temptation make a divine.* This dispensatioaj
of the all-wise God he afterwards found not only
to be beneficial to him, in preparing his heart
for his work, but also that it became an effect-
ual means of his more peaceable and comfort-
able settlement in that place, where the people
were divided amongst themselves, by reason of
a potent man in the town, who adhered to
another Cambridge-m^n, whom he desired to
bring in. But when they saw Mr. Cotton]
wholly taken up with his own exercises of spirit, ■
they were free from all suspition of his being
pragmatical, or addicted to siding with this or
that party, and so began to close more fully with
him. And secondly. Whereas there was anj
Arminian party in that town, some of whom

* Tria faciuDt theoIoguin,.meditaiio, oratio; tentatio.

36

were witty, and troubled others with disputes
about those points, by God's blessing upon his
labors in holding forth positively such truths as
undermined the foundations of Arminianism,
those disputes ceased, and in time Arminianism
was no more pleaded for.* So God disposeth of
the hearts of hearers, as that generally they are
all open and loving to their preachers in their
first times : trials are often reserved until after-
Wjards. Epiphanius calleth the first year of
Christ's ministery the acceptable year. The
disciples in their first mission want nothing, and
return all safe ; but after his death they met
with other entertainment, and come short home.
Young Peter girdeth himself and walks whither
he will ; but Old Peter is girded by another,
and carried whither he would not.

For three or four years he lived and preached
among them without opposition ; they accounted
themselves happy (as well they might) in the
enjoyment of him, both the town and country
thereabout being much bettered and reformed
by his labors. After, not being able to bear the
ceremonies imposed, his non-conformity occa-
sioned his trouble in the court of Lincoln^ from

^^^— .^j,^BJi,_I^L-JJUM-lJ.-1- - - _ ■ I - - I , , I ,1 I ^r, - ,- ^

* See Appendix, Note E.

37

Ivhence he was advised to appeal to a higher
court. And imploying Mr, Leveret* (who after*
wards was one of the ruling-elders of the church
of Boston in New-England) to deal in that
business^ and he being a plain man as Jacob
was, yet piously subtile to get such a spiritual
blessings so far insinuated himself into one of
the proctors of that high-court, that Mr. Cotton
was treated by them as if he were a conformable
man, and so was restored unto Boston, (Like-
wise by the same meanes it was, that a gentle-
man of Boston^ called Mr. Bennet, used occa-*
sionally afterwards to bring him in again.)
After this time he was blessed with a successful
ministry, unto the end of twenty years : In
which sp :ce he, on the Lord's-<]ay, in the" after-
noons, went over the whole body of divinity in a
cathechistical way thrice, and gave the heads of
his discourse to those that were young schollars^
and others in the town, to answer his questions
in publick in that great congregation ; and after
their answers, he opened those heads of divinity,
and finally applyed all to the edification of his
people, and to such strangers as came to hear
him. In the morning on the Lord's-day, he

* A son of this Elder Thomas Leveretl was for some years
Governor of Massaclmsetts. His great grandson tvas choses
President of Harvard College in 170a— £d.

4

''.•

* *

38

preached over the first six chapters of the gospel
of John ; the whole book of EcclesiasteSy the
prophesie of Zechariah, and many other scrip-
tures ; and when the Lord's-supper was admin-
istred (which was usually every moneth,) h^
preached upon 1 Cor, 11. and 2 Chron, 30. per
totum, and some other scriptures concerning

"^Qhat subject. On his lecture days, he preached
thorough the whole first and second Epistles of
Jofin^ the whole book of Solomon*s Song, and
the parables of our Saviour set forth in McU'
thew's Gospel to the end of chapter 16., com*
paring them with Mark and Luke, He took

^ much pains in private, and read to sundry young
schollars that were in his House, and some that
come out of Germany, and had bis house full
of auditors. Afterwards, seeing some incon-
venience in the people's flocking to his house,
besides his ordinary lecture on the 5th day of

y the week, be preached thrice more in publick
on the week days : on the fourth and fifth days,
early in the morning, and on the last day, at
three of the clock in the afternoon. Only these
three last lectures were performed by him but
some few years before he had another famous
colleague. He was frequent in duties of humili-
ation and thanksgiving. Sometimes he was five
or six hours in prayer, and opening of the word,

39

80 uqdefatigable in the Lord's work, so willing
to spend and to be spent. He answered roany ^
letters that were sent far and near, wherein
were handled many difficult cases of conscience,
and many doubts cleered to great satisfaction. J

He was a man exceedingly loved and admired
of the best, and reverenced of the worst of his
hearers. He was in great favour with doctor
Williams, the then bishop of Lincoln* who
much esteemed him for his learning, and (ac-
cording to report) when he was lord keeper of
the great seal, went to king James, and speak-
ing of Mr. Cotton's great learning and worth,
the king was willing, notwithstanding his non-
conformity, to give way that he should have his
liberty without interruption in his ministry,
which was the more notable, considering how
that king's spirit was carried out against such
meti. Also, the Earl of Dorchester being at
Old-Boston, and hearing Mr. Cotton preaching \
concerning (if memory fail not) civil-govern- \
ment, he was so affected with the wisdom of
his words and spirit, that he did ever aft6r
highly account of him, and put himself forth
what he could in the time of Mr. Cotton's

- ■■ii.ii.— -■■■■■ ■ mMii i^^^^m^^^mm^m^nm^^^

* Aderwards Archbishop of York«— £0.

40

troubles to deliver bim out of tbem, that bis
Boston might enjoy bim as formerly ; but be
found spiritual wickednesses in high places too
strongly opposite to bis desires.*

About this time be married bis second wife,
Mris. Sarah Story, then a widow.t He was
blessed above many in bis marriages, both bis
wives being pious matrons, grave, sober, faithful,
like Euodias and Syntt/chcy fellow-laborers with
him in the gospel. By the first be bad no chil-
dren ; the last God made a fruitful vine unto him.
His first-born she brought forth far off upon the
sea : he that left Europe childless, arived a
joyfull father in America, God, who promiseth
to be with his servants when they passe through
the waters, having caused bim to embrace a son
by the way ; in memorial whereof be called bis
name Seaborn, to keep alive (said be) in mee,
and to teach bim if he live, a remembrance* of
sea-mercies, from the hand of a gracious God.
He is yet living, and now entred into the work
of the ministry : a son of many prayers, and of
great expectation.

The time being now come, wherein God pur-j

* See AppendlX; Note F.

t His first wife was Elizabeth HorrockS; sister of James
Horrocks^ a famous minister in Lancashire. — Ed.

41

posed to superadd unto what had formerly been,
a practical and more notable testimony against
the intermixing of humane inventions with insti-
tutions divine, and to the gospel church- worship
and politie in their purity, he in his All-wise (
providence transplants many of his faithfull ser-
vants into this vast wilderness, as a place in
respect of it's remoteness so much the fitter for
the fuller inquiry after, and free exercise of all
his holy ordinances, and together therewith for
the holding forth a pregnant demonstration of
the consistency of civil-government with a con-
gregational-way. God giveth Moses the pattern^
of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Ezekiel
seeth the formes of the house in exile. John
receiveth his revelation in Patmos, Jotham
upon mount Gerizim is bold to utter his apo*
logue : and David can more safely expostulate
with Sauly when he is gotten to the top of the
hill a far off, a great space between them. The
ParthianSy having learned the art of shooting
backwards,* made their retreat more terrible
then their onset to their adversaries. The
event soon shewed the wisdom of God herein,
the people in a short time clearly understanding

^ Terga cooversi metuenda Partbi.— £feneca

4*

43

that truth in the practice, which by dispute they
could not in a long time attain unto. In order
hereunto, the God of the spirits of all flesh
stirreth up many of his faithful ones to leave
that pleasant land, their estates, their kindred,
their fathers houses, and sail oyer the Atlantic-^
Ocean unto this vast Jeshimon : Amongst whom
this choice-servant of God, with many others
graciously fitted for such a work, are sent over
to set up the worship of Christ in this desart :
A service, of which the ApoJogetical brethren
(may we be permitted to transcribe their appre-*
hension thereof) speak thus. " Last of all, we
had the recent and later example of the ways
and practices (and those improved to a better
edition, and greater refinement by all the fore-
mentioned helpes) of those multitudes of godly
men of our own nation, almost to the number of
another nation, and among them some as holy
and judicious divines as this kingdom hath
bred ; whose sincerity in their way hath been
testified before all the world, and will be to all
generations to come, by the greatest undertaking
(but that of our father Abraham out of his own
country, and his seed after him) a transplanting
themselves many thousand miles distance, and
that by Sea, into a wilderness, meerly to wort

43

ship God more purely, whither to allure them
there could be no other invitement/'

Exilium causa ipsa jubet mihi dulce vid^ri,
£t desiderium dulce levat patriae.*

Bereaved Exiles ought not to repine,
When as the cause presents an Anodine.

The persons spoken of in this transcript, in
the recital thereof, distinguish between the act
and the agents. This testimony, whilst they
crave leave to present it unto the reader in way
of defence for their undertaking, so far as to be
of God ; they are ashamed of themselves the
agents, as most unworthy. They here read
their duty, what they ought to be ; and are not
insensible of the goads of the wise, provoking
them to be according to their duty : in the
mean ^hile confessing and lamenting their too
manifest unanswerable walking unto their pro^
fession, and their brethren's expectation.

The cause of his departure was this :t The
corruption of the times bein^ such, as would not
endure his officiating any longer in his station
without sin ; and the envy of his m aligners
having procured letters-missive to convent him
Ibefore the high^ommission, which a debauched

9 Beza Kleg, 2. \ See Ap^\i^\:s.,'^^Vfo Q^.

44

inhabitant of that town (who not long after
died of the plague)* undertook to deliver to
him, according as he had already done to
some others : Mr. Cotton having intelligence
thereof, and well knowing that nothing but
scorns and imprisonment were to be expected,
conformably to the advice of many able heads
and upright hearts (amongst whom that holy
man, Mr. Dod of blessed memory had a sin-
gular influence) t he kept himself close for a
time in and about London, as Luther sometimes
at Wittenberg, and Paraus afterwards at An-*
villa. Neither was that season of his recess
unproiitable : but as Jerom, retired to his den at
Bethlehem, ll, was an oracle unto many in his
time, BO addresses during that interim were
made unto him privately by divers persons of
worth and piety, who received from him satis*
faction unto their consciences in cases of great*
fest concernment. His flight was not like that
of Pliny^s mice, that forsake a house foreseeing
the ruine of it ; or of mercenaries, who ftie from
duty in time of danger : but Providence Divine
shutting up the door of service in England, and
on the other hand opening it in NeW'England,

* See Appendix; Note H. f See Appendii, Note I.

45

he was guided, both lyr the word and eye of thej
Lord. And as David yielded, upon the per-
swasion of his men, to absent himself from
danger, so he suffered himself to be j)erswaded
by his friends to withdraw from the lust of his
persecutors, for the preservation of so precious a
light in Israel ; after the example of Jacob,
Moses ^ the prophets which Ohadiah hid in the
caves, Polycarp, Athanasius* yea and Christ
himself; When they 'persecute you in one city,
Jlie unto another, Cyprian implieth, that a
tempestive flight is a kinde of confession of our
faith ; it being an open profession, that our faith
Is dearer to us then all that we flie from for the
defence thereof. It was not a flight from duty,
but from evident and regularly evitable danger ;
not from the evil of persecution, but from the
evil of obstruction unto serviceableness. It was
not a flight from duty, but unto duty ; not from
the profession of the truth, but unto a more
opportune place for the profession of it. J

Thus, this infant and small commonwealth
being now capacitated, both in respect of civil
and church estate, to walk with God according
to the prescript of his word, it was the good
hand of the Lord unto his servants, who had

* See Appendix, Nole "K.

46

afflicted their souls to seek of him a right way
for themselves, their little ones, and their sub-
stance, to send unto them (amongst many #thers)
this man of understanding, that might be unto
them as eyes in this wilderness. His manner
of entrance unto them was with much blessing.
For at his first coming, he found them not with-
out some troubles about setting the matters of
the church aad commonwealth.''^

When Mr. Cotton (being requested) preach-
ing before the general court out of Haggai 2. 4.
Yet now he strongs O Zeruhhahel^ saith the
Lordf he strong, O Joshua son of Josedek the
High-Priest, and he strong all ye people of the
land, saith the Lord, and work ; for I am with
you, saith the Lord of hosts : as Mtnenius
Agrippa sometimes by his oration healed that
then-threatning breach between the fathers and
the people of Rome ;T so, through the Lord's
working mightily by this Sermon, all obstruc-
tions were presently removed, and the spirits of
all sorts, as one man, were excited unanimously
and vigorously in the work of the Lord from
that day. In order whereunto the^court con-
sidering, that that people of God, all the mem-
bers of which republick were church-members,

* See Appendix, Note L . \ lAv . ll\»Vot . V\Vi. 1, cwj. 32.

47

were to be governed conformably to the law of
Gody desired ~Mr. Cotton to draw an abstract of
the judicial laws delivered from God by Moses,
so far forth as they were of moral (t. fe. of per-
petual and universal) equity. Which he did,
advising them to persist in their purpose of
establishing a Theocraty (t. e. God's govern"*
ment) over €rod's people.* It was an usual
thing, henceforth, for the magistrate to consult
with the ministers in hard cases, especially in
matters of the Lord : yet so, as notwithstanding
occasional conjunction, religious care was had
of avoiding confusion of counsels. Moses and
Aaron rejoiced, and kissed one another in the
mount of God. After which time, how useful
he was to England, to N. JEJ., to magistrates, to
ministers, to people, in publick and private, by
preaching, counsel, and resoliring difficult ques-
tions, all know that knew him, and consequently
saw the grace of God so evidently manifested in
him. In the course of his ministery in NeW'
Boston, by way of exposition, he went through
the Old^Testament unto Isa. 30., the whole New-
TeBtameiit once through, and the second time
unto tb^ middle of Heh. 11. Upon Lord's

* See Appeoduc; Note M.

U

48

dftys tLud lecture-days, he preached through the
Acts of the Apostles, Haggai, Zechary, Ezra,
the Revelation, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, the
second and third epistles of John, the epistle of
Titus, both the epistles of Timothy, the epistle
to the Romans, with other scriptures : the pre-
sence of the Lord being it^ighty with him, and
crowning his labours to the converlSion of many
souls, jind the edification of thousands.* Be-
sides these labours forementioned, he hath many
pieces in print, which being well known, need
the less to be here enumerated.t

His youth was unstained, whence he was so
much the more Capable of being an excellent
instrument in the church in his after-age. Many
do that evil whilst they are young, which makes
them unable (at least comparatively) to do so
much good when they are old. He must have a
good report of them that are without,! lest he
fall into the reproach and snare of the devil.
Satan catcheth at the scandals of such who are
in the ministery, as fittest materials to make
snares unto the prejudice both of the gospel,
and of souls. Augustine, to whom God in this

* See Appendix, Note N. f See Appendix, Note O,

X 1 Timothy 3. 7.

49

respect shewed peculiar mercy, upon his (ordi-
narily) unparalleVd repentance, telleth us, A
good life is requisite in respect of ourselves, but
a good name is requisite in respect of others;*
The gratefulnese of the most excellent liquor
unto the stomach depends in part upon the
quality of the vessel. We may be good men, if
we have a good conscience ; but we are not like
to do much good, if we have not a good name.
Our religion, our report, and our eye, must not
be plaid withal. It is a smart admonition men-
tioned by Sturmius in his classical epistles,
when upon such an one reading out of Tully*s
Offices, who himself was not of an unblemished
life, his hearer objects, Docet officium, ndn facit
officium ; he teacheth duty, but he doth not do
bis duty. A divine freedom did open SamueFs
mouth to testifie against the sins of -the people,
whilst they were compelled to testifie unto the
innocencie of Samuel, To be long at sea, and
not meet with one storm, is unusual : to liv^
long, and to lead a godly life ail-along without
offence, is not a little wonder, and ^ special
favor both to ourselves and others. t

■ ■ r if -i.

* Aug. de bono viduitat. c. 22.

t Miraculi instar vitee her, si longum, sine ofiensione y^tr-
currere. Marian. 1. 1. de morle el immoTVa\. cb.^* ^w

5

■1

-5

50

I He was a general scholar, studious to know
all things the want whereof might in one of hi»
profession be denominated ignorance ; and pi-*
ously ignorant of those things, the nescience
whereof made him more learned.*" One man is^
not born to all things. No calling (besides
divine requisites) calleth for more abilities, or »
larger measure of humane knowledge then the"
ministery ; deservedly therefore is his praise
great in all the churches, that he not only gave
himself thereunto, but exceeded many that had

y done virtuously therein. The greater part of
the Encudopaideia he excelled in. Those arts
which the university requireth such a proficiency
from her graduates in, he both digested and re-
fined by his more accurate knowledge of them.

y He was a good Hebrician, in Greek a critick,
and could with great facility both speak and
write Latine in a pure and elegant Ciceronian
stile ; a good historian, no stranger to the
fathers, councils, or school-men ; abundantly
exercised in commentators of all sorts. His
library was great, his reading and learning an-
swerable, himself a living and better library.
Though he was a constant student, yet he had
not all his learning out of his books. He was a

* Noa neoeMaria discondoi necessaria ignoramiis.— iSSoi.

51

man of much communion with God, and ac-
quaintance with his own heart, observing the
daily passages of his life. He had a deep sight
into the mystery of God's grace, and man's
corruption, and large apprehensions of these
things. It was wont to be said. Bonus iextua-^
rius est bonus Theologus : A good text-man is a
good divine. If you look upon him in that
notion, he was an expositor (without offence be
it spoken) not inferior to any of this more subli-
mated age ; that great motto so mudh wondered
at, Lahore et Constantid, labor and constancy,
containing nothing more then the duty which
God hath laid upon every man. Learning (saithH
Hierome)* is not to be purchased with silver ;
it is the companion of sweat and painfulness; of
abstemiousness, not of fulness ; of continency,
not of wantonness : the earth continueth barren
or worse, except industry be its midwife. The
hen, which brings not forth without uncessant
sitting night and day,t is an apt embleme of
students. The wiser naturalists who have been^
serious in improveing, and Christians that have
been conscientious to improve or redeem their
time, for the more effectual obtaining of their

* Hierom. Apolog. contra Ruffinum.
f Nocte dieqae incubsiiido.

52

end, have distributed the day into certain pro-
portions, setting each apart to his predesigned
use : Hence the ancient Grecians appointed the
first six hours unto their respective contempla-
tive functions, the rest (say they) call upon us
to take care of our health and life.

Sex horae tantiim rebus tribuuotur agendis ;
Yivere post ill as litera Z mooet.

Melancthon sometime commended this dis-
tribution of the day unto a great man ; th&t the
four and twenty hours being divided into three
parts, eight be spent in study, eight in our bed,
the rest as our bodily welfare calls upon us.
Others give ten hours in the day unto our
studies, if strength permits, approving of more
according to this division. His diligence was
in the third degree most intense, and most
exact.* His measure was a glasse of four
hours, three of which, he would sometime say,
was a schollar's day, and after that rate he spent
inot a few of his days. He was always an early
riser, and in his latter years not eating any sup-
per, he made up the avocations of that day by
retiring that time, and the rest of the evening

'^Summus diligentise gradus est vchementissima, et exac-
ij'ssima diligeniia..

t--

53

to his study. With Solan, as he grew old, so
was he continually a learner : and with Quinti'
Han, he terminated his life and his reading bothj
^gether. The constant work of his ministry
was great, if not too great, for one man. A
candle may spend too fast ; and the improve-
ment of the light whilst it is yet burning admits
of degrees. Besides his preaching in season
and out of season, he was daily pressed^ if not
oppressed, with the care and service of the
churches ; and with attendance to personal
cases, and manifold other imployments inevi-
tably put upon him, both from abroad and at
home ; whence the time remaining (which is
not a little to be lamented) was insufficient to
attend doctrinal, and especial polemical scripts,
such as the cause of the truth, occurents of
providence, and his peculiar engagements called
for. He was free to give his judgment when
desired, but declined arbitration and umpirage
in civil differences between man and man, as
heterogeneus both to his office and spirit. His
course, like that of celestical bodies, was always
in motion, but still careful to keep within his
proper sphere. Calvin was not more sollicitous
not to be found idle ; no man more vigilant to
contain himself within his measure. It was re->
ligion to hin)^ both to run, and \o t\]LTi\v«%o^l

5*

64

within the white lines and boundaries of his
agonistical race. He was doing, and so doing,

Pliny accounted those happy men, who either
did things worthy *o be written, or wrote things
worthy to be read.* Christians account those
teachers blessed, and blessings, who teach both
by their light, and life, in sincerity. Those
which best knew his goins out and comings in,
cannot but give a large testimony to his piety.
A saint (above many of the saints) manifestly
declared in the consciences of the godly amongst
whom he walked, to be the epistle of Christ,
known and read of all men. In his house he
walked with a perfect heart. He was an ex-
ample to the flock, clothed with love and hu-
mility amongst his brethren. One of a thousand
in respect to his worth ; but (as it is reported of
Dr. Whitaker,) as one of the multitude in re-
spect of his facile and companion-like behaviour.
Both ability and modesty in such a degree are
not ordinarily to be found in the same man.
Others with much affection beheld the beauty
of his face, whilst himself was one who knew
not that his face shined. He was a father,

* Equidem beatos puto, quibus Deorum muoere datum est
aut facere sqribenda, aut scribere legenda. C. Fli. Tacit.
voL 1.

55

friend, and brother to his fellow-elders, and a
shining light before men.

As the being of man, so the well-being of
humane affairs, depends not a little upon domes-
tick government ; whence are the seminaries
and first societies of mankinde. He well knew
a bishop ought not to be defective in so momen-
tous a duty, incumbent upon all heads of fami-
lies : he must be one that ruleth well his own
house.* In conscience whereof, he himself,
rising betimes in the morning, as soon as he
was ready, called his family together (which
was also his practice in the evening) to the
solemn worship of God ; reading, and expound-
ing, and occasionally applying the Scripture
unto them, always beginning and ending with
prayer. In case of sin committed by child or
servant, he would call them aside privately (the
matter so requiring), lay the Scripture before
them, causing them to read that which bare
witness against such offence ; seldom or never
correcting in anger, that the dispensation of
godly discipline might not be impured, or be-
come less effectual, through the intermixing of
humane passion.

He began the Sabbath at evening ; therefore
then performed family duty afler supper, being

* Bene non regii, si bene noa reg^m. ^tu» «^V8X» \^.

56

larger then ordinary in exposition, after which
he catechised his children and servants, and
then returned into his study. The morning fol-
lowing, family-worship being ended, he retir^cl
into his study, until the bell called him away.
Upon his return from meeting, he returned
again into his study (the place of his laboui
and prayer) unto his private devotion; where
(having a small repast carried him up for \m
dinner) he continued till the tolling of the bell.
The publick service being over, he withdrew foi
a space to his prementioned oratory, for hm
sacred addresses unto God, as in the forenoon ;
then came down, repeated the sermon in the
family, prayed, after supper sung a psalm, and
towards bed-time, betaking himself again to his
study, he closed the day with prayer. Thus he
spent the Sabbath continually.
p In his study, he neither sate down unto nor
' arose from his meditations without prayer ;
whilst his eyes were upon his book, his expecta-
tion was from God. He had learned to study,
because he had learned to pray : an able stu-
dent, a gospel-student, because unable to study
1 without Jesus Christ. The barrenness of hia
meditation at some times, yea, thoagh his en-
deavours were most intense upon a good matter,
fiooftDced him whence it xv^A^lhat lus heart,^

57

musing upon the same subject at another time,
his tongue became as the pen of a ready writer.
As he was not (comparatively) wanting in parts,
learning, or industry, so was he more careful
not to trust in them, but to fix his dependence
totally upon God : Herein not unlike unto '
Bradford^ of whom we read, that he studied
kneeling. Another Synesius* who was wontj
to divide his life between prayer, and his book.
Like unto Paul, not sufficient of himself to
think any thing as of himself, and professing all
his sufficiencie to be of God. But we will give
our selves continually to prayer, and to the min*
istry of the word. Men of labour, and men of
prayer.

As any weighty cause presented it self, either
in the church, commonwealth, or family, he
would set days apart to seek the face of God in
secret ; such were the bowels of this spiritual
father, the horsemen and chariots of this Israel.
He might say with Paul, he was in fastings
often. His conversation upon earth was a trad-
ing in heaven ; a demonstration of the praises
of him who had called him ; a practical and'
exemplary ministery of grace unto the hearer
and beholder ; a temperature of that holiness,
sweetness, and love, which continually gained

* See Appendix, NoVe V.

r

58

upon the hearts of many spectators. The ha-
bitual gracious scope of his heart in his whole
ministery is not illegible in that usual subscrip-
tion of his at the end of all his sermons, Tibi,
Domine, unto thy honor, O Lord ! *

As disputation is well called the sieve of
truth^f so in his polemical labors he was a seeker
thereof in love ; his scope was the glory of God,
unity of the churches, and the edification of
men, not the ostentation of wit. It was his holy
ambition not to seem to be learned, but indeed
to be bettered : a sincere seeker of light, not of
victory. Witness his brotherly acceptance of
Dr. Twissel his examination of Mr. Cotton's
treatise of predestination ; from whom he ac-
knowledged that he received light thereby, and
was ready to attest the great abilities of the
Doctor, that star (if any of this age) of the first
magnitude. 'Tis true, Mr. Cotton's mind was
then exercised concerning the point of reproba-

* I here omit two Poems, entitled, " A thankful Acknowl-
edgment of God's Providence," and " Another Poem made by
Mr. Cotton (as it seemetb) upon bis removal from Boston to
this Wilderness," and I do it because, as a versifier, if we may
judge from these specimens, it may truly be said that Mr. Cot*
ton was not distinguished.
J t Cribrum verilatis.

J } Dr, Twisse was prolocutor or president of the Westminster
/ Assembly, He was a Ca\\\uisi ot " Cive iXmViM!i»tN.J^— lE.\i»

69

tion ; touching the point of election, 'tis suf-
ficiently known he was not only orthodox, but
also clear. As there were of old that pretended
the predesiinarian heresie to have had its rise
from Austin; and Grevinchovius of late blushed
liot to say of the famous Dr. Ames, that Arminia"
novum malleus, Amesius Pelagianizaf, Ames Pe-
lagianizeth ; * so the wonder is less, if this
sound and judicious divine hath not escaped
the imputation of Arminianism from some, not-
withstanding the redundant testimony of his
doctrine, and generally of all that knew him, to
the contrary ; yea, that occasionally h^ hath
been heard to say by testimony yet alive, and
above exception, that he looked at Arminianism
as another gospel, and directly contrary to the
tenor of the covenant of grace. What Melanc'
thon (our ordinary parallel) sometimes said of
himself to Eccius, may here be truly applied to
him : Mr. Cotton in his disputations sought not
his glory, but God's truth. f So able an oppo-
nent was rare ; so candid an opponent more
rare. He that fell into his hands was likely to
fall soft enough ordinarily (except through his
own default) not likely to lose any thing besides
his error.

* See Appendix, Note Q.

f Mi Doctor, nolrquaero meam g\or'iam Va Vmjc t«^<c>^v^i^«^
^en'taiem.

60

A man's wisdom maketh his face to shhicf.
He had a happy, a quick, comprehensive, and
benign understanding, as having received the
manifestation of the Spirit, for the service and
profit of others. To discover the mind of God,
and therewith the sentence of judgment, in mat-
ters too hard for inferior judges, was no small
part both of the worth and usefulness of him
that was to minister before the Lord. The
Queen of Shiha proved Solomon with hard
questions. There is scarce any gift that more
approximates the receiver unto that which the
learngd call . a divine, then an ability in some
measure to send away religious casuists, as the
wise-man did that renowned questionist, which
communed with him of all that was in her heart
* And Solomon told her all her questions ; there
was not any thing hid from the king that he
told her not.' It seemed, good unto the Father
of lights to make this happy instrument, not
only to excell his brethren, but in many respects,
upon this account, to excell himself: a grace so
far acknowledged in him, as that all sorts, both
the magistrate and private persons, learned and
unlearned, exercised with their respective cases
of conscience, waited under God in special
manner upon his lips for knowledge, and sought
the law at his mouth. Hear to this purpose tbs

61

ft

testimony of Mr. Davenport, that eminent and
reverend man of God, the faithful pastor of the
church at New-Haven, (a witness above many)
in his own words, as followeth :

" His forced flight from Boston to London
for his safety, from pursuit of the pnrsevants
sent to apprehend him, I well remember ; and
admire the special providence of God towards
myself and some others in it, amongst whom
safe retirement and hiding places were provided
for him, in and about London.* For some of
us agreed together to improve that opportunity
for a conference with him, about the grounds of
his judgment and practice, whereby the Church
was in danger to be deprived of him, and of the
benefit of his precious gifts, hoping that God
might blesse the same, for the communicating of
further light, either to him or to us. Two points
were the principal subject of our discourse.

1. Touching the limitation of church-power to
matters commanded, not to things different.

2. Touching the oflice of bishops, whether the
scripture-bishops be appointed to rule a diocesse,
or a particular congregation. The discussing
of these caused much debate between us about
the meaning and extent of the second com-
mandment, both in the negative and the affirma-

* * See Appendix; Note R.

62

tWe part of it, and a diligent examination of
what had been printed in defence of conformity
to the ceremonies imposed, viz. Mr. Wkeatlies
arguments in his Care-cloth, Mr. Bt/JtelfTs on
1 Pet. 2. 13. and others, with such arguments as
were either produced, or invented, and urged by
any of our selves : unto all which he answered
with great evidence of Scripture light, compo-
sed ness of mind, mildness of spirit, constant ad-
hering to his principles, and keeping them un-
shaken, and himself from varying from them by
any thing spoken' ad oppositum. When I ob-
served that all this he did, not in speech only,
but aJso in sundry writings (the copies whereof
I have) without the help of any book but the
Scriptures, wherein he was mighty ; and yet
matters that required variety of reading, whether
for confirmation of the truth, or confutation of
the contrary, fell frequently into discourse inter
partes; I admired God *s presence with him,
and assistance of him, quickening his apprehen-
sion and invention, strengthening his memory,
composing his mind, and governing his spirit far
beyond what I had taken notice of in any man
before him. The reason of our desire to confer
with him rather than any other touching these
weighty points, was our former knowledge of his
approved godliness^ excellent learning, sound

63

judgment, eminent gravity, candor, and sweet
temper of spirit, whereby he could placidly bear
those that differed from him in their apprehen-
sions. All which and much more we found,
and glorified God in him, and for him."

So equal a contention between learning and >
meekness is seldom visible in any one person^M
Of Moses we thus read. Now the man Moses
was very meek, above all the men that were upon
the face of the earth. The consciences of those
that knew him appealed to, he will be acknowl-
edged amongst the meekest of the earth in his
days. I' am forced here to make a pause : so
conspicuous was this grace in him, that multi-
tudes beheld it, not without making extraor-
dinary mention thereof. 'Tis true, he had an
advantage above many in his natural constitu-
tion, and its influence from his education,
heightned intellectuals, and moralities, was not
inconsiderable ; but that which gave the being
of meekness, which sanctified and perfected all,
was the grace of Christ. Hev was of an acute
apprehension, therefore easily sensible of, but so
little in his own spirit that he was not easily
provoked by, an injury. Sensibleness of dis-
honor done to God by sin, or of what the offen-
der had done unto himself by sinning, lefl such
impressions upon him, as that any injury done

64

unto himself^ was not usually taken notice of.
He had well learned that lesson of Gregory, It
is better oftentimes to flie from an injury by
silence, then to overcome it by replying.* It'
was GryncBus* manner to revenge wrongs with
Christian taciturnity. Melancthon overcomes
Luther^s anger, and his own grief, with mild-
«es9, patience, and prayer. The non-resistance
and soilness of the wooll breaks the force of the
cannon, and so saveth both the bullet and it self.
If inferiors expostulated unnecessarily with him,
he would patiently hear them, and give them a
brotherly account, pacifying their minds with
a gentle, grave, and respective answer. Take
one instance of that kind instead of many ; unto
one of his hearers then sick of singularities, and
less able to bear sound doctrine, following him
home after his public labors in the assembly,
and instead of better encouragement, telling him
that his ministry was become either dark, or
flat ; he gently answered, Both, brother ! with-
out further opening his mouth in his defence,
choosing rather to own the imputation, then to
expostulate with the imputer.t

Disputations are great trials of the spirits of

^ Gloriosus est injuriam iacendo fugere, qu^in respondcudo
superare.

I t See Appendix, Note S. f

65

intelligent men. Hooper and Ridley were pa«
tient martyrs^ yet somewhat impatient disputers.
The synod held at Cambridge, as matters were
then circumstanced, was unto this good man an
hour of temptation, above what ordinarily had
befallen' him in his pilgrimage ; yet such was
his eminent behaviour throughout, as argued in
the conscience of the spectators singular pa-
tience, and left him a mirror for the tempera*
ment, mildness, and government of his spirit.
Pious meekness fits for church-society. It was
he, than whom was not a meeker man upon
earth, who continued Israel in church-commun-
ion, and continued in communion with Israel,
notwithstanding their manners in the wilderness.
To institute and preserve instrumentally church-
communion, gospel-fellowship, society, and pu^*
rity, in the exercises that accompanied the
removal of (as it were) a nation out of a nation,
change of ecclesiastical government, with the
many temptations of this desart, called for
another Moses : neither the spirit of separation
nor pollution can attain it. To hold communioii\
with men that are sinners, without having com-
munion with their sin, is the only sociable spirit*
To extend communion where the rule com-
mands, and to deny communion where the rule
^rbids, qualifieth us to live with God and roan*!
6 *

66

They that are strong ought to bear the infir-
mities of the weak. Pillars must be bearers,
else the building falls. The infirmities of the
weak brethren are the trials and burdens of
those which are strong. It fareth ill with the
little one, when then the fro ward ness of the
child exceeds the patience of the nurse. Those
things in nature which cannot suffer, cannot
mixe. Timber that will not endure cutting, is
unfit for jointing. The sword that is good metal
will bow to the hilts, and yet come strait again.
No metal more solid then gold, no metal more
yielding under the hammer. The same heaven
hath the name of firmament for its stability, and
of the expanse for its being stretched out like a
curtain, and compassing about the residue of
the creation. The sinews, which are the mem-
bers of most strength, are also members flexible
every way, for the better motion of the whole
body. Denial of regular communion, is injurious
to the body. Rigot is schismatical, indulgence
is defiling ; both are scandalous and destructive.
Piety and meekness preserve the unity of the
spirit in the bond of peace. Eccius sometimes
acknowledged unto Melancthon, that his mild-
ness, and Pontanus his good language, had
been very beneficial to the Protestant cause.
Yet, though he was so gentle, meek, and flexible,

67

that men might perswade him above what could
be usually expected from men .of his worth ; in
the things of God he was stedfast and un-
moveable. Moses, the meekest of men, in the
cause of God, would not yield in the least : Our
cattel also shall go toith us, there shall not an
hoof be left behind. Paul, who pleaseth all
men in all things, in a matter fundamental giveth
not place, no not for an hour. Charity so en-
dureth all things, as that the church of Ephesus
is commended because she cannot suffer those
that 'do evil. Melancthon*s milde nature, when
spiritualized and quickned by grace, drew forth
the commendation of an enemy ; but being lefl
unto it self, gave occasion to his friend to com-
plain. And here, saith Mr. Brightman, (re-
lating to the springing and spreading gangrene
of cousubstantiation,) I find thee wanting, O
hoXy Philip !^ Luther at times is too angry;
Melancthon sometimes is too remiss. The anger
of the old-man is a sin ; the anger of the new-
man is a duty. Jacob curseth the anger of the
patriarchs; God blesseth the zeal of Phineas.
The sanctuary cannot want the fire which is,
from heaven; neither may it be touched with
the fire which is from hell. Gentleness of dis-

* Quinetiam tuam fidem & diligeatiam, sancte Philippe,
desidero.— Brigbtmaii in Apoc. cap. 3

68

position, when actuated by Christ, makes us so
much the more acceptable and profitable unto
man; but if the Spirit withdraweth his assist-
ance, we fall short of reaching God's ends, and
the seasonable suppression of exorbitancie. In
which respect, if this good man had always had
that voice sounding in his heart, which one
wished that mild Lantgrave of Hessen might
have heard from the smith's forge, (Duresce,
duresce, utinam Sf Lantgravius durescat !)
haply there are, that think some disorders, dis-
turbances, and irregularities, might have been
prevented by God's blessing.

But ordinarily, and in matters of greatest
weight, the Lord was with him. Though his
forbearance was both observable and very im^
itable in the things that concerned himself, yet
he could not forbear them whom he knew to be
evil. An experience whereof we saw concern'^
ing some heterodox spirits, who by their specious
discourses of free-grace, and subdolous conceal-
ings of their principles, so far deceived him into
a better opinion of them than there was cause,
as that, notwithstanding they fathered their
errors upon him in general, and abused his doc-
trine to the countenancing of their denial of in-
herent grace in particular, yet he was slow to
believe these things of them, and slower to beaf

69

witness against them. Bat so soon as the truth
herein appeared to him, hear his own words
taken out of his letter written to Mr. Davenport,
" The truth is (saith he) the body of the
island is bent to backsliding into error and de-
lusions : The Lord pity and pardon them, and
me also, who have been so sl(fw to see their
windings, and subtile contrivances, and insinua-
tions in all their transactions, whilst they propa-
gated their opinions under my expressions, di-
verted to their constructions." Yea, such was
his ingenuity and piety, as that his soul was not
satisfied without often breaking forth into affec-
tionate-bewailing of his infirmity herein, in the
publick assembly, sometimes in his prayer, some-
times in his sermon, and that with tears.*

He was a man of an ingenuous and pious
candor, rejoicing (as opportunity served) to take
notice of, and testifie unto, the gifts of God in
his brethren, thereby drawing the hearts of them
to him, and of others to them, both to their en-
couragement, and the edification of many. He
did not think himself a loser by putting honor
upon his fellow-elders, but was willing they
should communicate with him in the esteem
and love of the people. He was not only a son
of peace, enjoying the continual feast of a good

* See Appendix, Note T.

70

conscience, with serenity and tranquillity of
affections at home ; but also a peace-maker,
qualified by the graces forementioned to be a
choice instrument in the hand of the Prince of
peace, amongst the churches : Where, if any
differences arose, he was ready (being called
thereunto) to afford his help for the composing
of them, and had a singular faculty and ability
therein, by that excellent wisdom, and modera-
tion of spirit, which God in Christ had given
him, whose blessing also did ordinarily crown
his endeavours with good success.

He was one, the reality of whose profession
gave cause utito many to blesse the Author of
the Christian religion, for the kindness of the
Lord shewed unto all sorts by him ; his portion
in the things of this life exempted him from
being an object of envy in that behalf But yet
behold, quantum ex quantiUo, so much commu-
nicated out of so little ; we may not here be
altogether silent, concerning the grace of God
bestowed upon him, whereby to his power, yea
above his power, he was beneficent unto others,
but especially to those of the houshold of faith.
The gospel opened his heart, his lips, and the
doors of his house. A bishop then must be
given to hospitality, apt to teach : as we have
seen him didactical, so you sh^ll find him bos-

71

pital. He well remembered, that there is that
scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that
withholdeth more then is meet, but it tendeth to
poverty. The liberal soul shall he madu fat.
Among others, his fellow-laborers in the ministry
were entertained with peculiar contentment.
To reminde all instances would take up. time ;
by some of many, take his spirit in the rest. . So
it was: a minister (to spare his name) which
had gotten into the fellowship of that eminent
man, Mr. Arthur Hildersham (and many other
godly preachers, being acquainted with their
secrets) betrayed him into the prelate's hands ;
who coming to Boston, and meeting with Mr.
Cotton, this Gains had not the heart to speak to
him, nor to invite him unto his house ; which
he said, he never did to his knowledg unto any
stranger before, much less to any of his own
order. It was the modesty of others, not from
any deficiencie in him, why the proverb occa-
sioned by that Corinthian was not applicable
also unto his dwelling : There is always some
hody at Sidon^s house ; Semper aliquis in CydO'
nis domo. Some years since, there was brought
unto Boston a report of the necessity of the
poor saints at Sigatcea, a little church (whereof
the reverend Mr. White then was, and yet is
their faithful pastor) which suffered much ex-

72

tremity by reason of the persecution of thehr
then prevailing adversaries, forcing them from
Barmudas into the desartKiontinent. The sound
of whose distress was no sooner heard of, but
you might have heard the sounding of his bowels,
with many others, applying themselves unto a
speedy collection, and transporting it to them
on purpose for their seasonable relief; when,
after the example of the churches in Galatia^
Macedonia^ Corinth, and Rome, sending their
liberalities unto Jerusalem in the days of the
famine foretold by Agabus, the same grace
abounding in the churches of these parts, they
supplied them to the value of about seven hun-
dred pounds ; two hundred pounds whereof were
gathered in the church of Boston, no man in
the contribution exceeding, and but one equal-
ling the bounty of their then teacher.* It is
here remarkable, that this collection arrived
there the very day (or thereabouts) after those
poor people were brought to a personal division
of that little meal then remaining in the barrel,
and not seeing, according to man, but that after
the eating thereof they must die a lingering
death for want of food ; and the same day that
their pastor preached to them (it being the

See Appendix, Mote U.

73

Lord's day) out of Psal 23. 1. The Lord is
my shepherd, T shall not want. At sach a time
the good hand of the Lord brought this succor
to them from afar. To give quickly, doubleth ;
but to give to the saints in a time of need, treb-
leth the gift.

Whilst he was in England, his eminent piety,
success of his labors, interest in the hearts of
both superiors, inferiors, atid equals, drew much
envy upon him ; and his non-conformity added
thereunto, delivered him in a great degree unto
the will of his adversaries ; whose hour and the
power of darkness being come, spared not to
shoot at him, and grieve him ; not giving over
until they had bereaved him of much of his
livelihood, his liberty, country, and therewith of
the sweet society of lovers, friends, and many
ways endeared acquaintance, much more pre-
cious to him then life it self. Yet the measure
of the afflictions of Christ in this kind appointed
to be suffered by him in the flesh, was not ful-
filled. But lo, in the time of his exile, some
brethren, (we do not say they were not of us,
* being willing to hope better things,) provoked
by the censure of authority, though justly, and
not without tears inflicted upon them, single out
him as a chief object of their displeasure ; who^

XT

/

/

74

though ahove other men decHning irregular and
unnecesgary interesting of himself in the actions
of the magistrate, and (\yhile opportunity lasted)
endeavouring their healing, yet must now be re-
quited evil for good, and t^iat by some of them
who were formerly companions with him in the
tribulations of this Patmos. Respecters of him
had taken sweet counsel together, and walked in
the house of God as friends. Hence is he with
pen and tongue blasphemed by them, for whom
he formerly intreated, and for whom he both
then and afterwards wept and put on sackcloth.
Such bufietings of Satan, though sharp, are
medicinal at times to the excellent upon earth,
who by reason of the body of death indwelling,
must be kept weak, that they may be made
strong. Since this time also some reverend,
learned, and godly men (haply in zeal against
the Congregational- way) sharpened their s\^\e
against him. There is an excess in too much
salt, and not a little to be complained of in per-
sonal and causeless aspersions from good men.
TbUt smarts, these defile ; that makes less com-
fortable, these tend to make us un{9ro6table.
Roses are not without their pricks. The archers
have soFiely grieved him, and shot at him, and
wcire dispileased with him ; but his bowe abode in
strength, and the arms of his hands were made

76

strongs by the hands of the mighty GocLof Jacob,
From thence is the shepherd, and the stone of
Israel. An honest-minded man (saith XenO'
phon) gets by enmity ; and Plutarch writes a
treatise concerning benefiting by our enemies,*
adorning his discourse with that of Jason of
Thessaly^ whose enemy stabbing him, and in-
tending his death, only opened an ulcer, other-
wise incurable, and so saved his life; If men
without God in the world, having only star-light,
and scarce so much as seeing men walk like
trees, only feeling after the Lord, have thus
spoken ; we see the greater encouragement why
Christians, who ure made light by the Father of
light, and know Uim that is love, may (through
grace) Dot only speak better, but also practise
accordingly. Job can turn the book written
against him by his adversaries into a crown.
Joseph, feeling the benefit of the patriarchs' un-
kindness, is the more readily disposed to forgive

1

that Wrong, whereby he finds himself made a
great gainer. He was a good accomptant, who
esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches
then the treasures of Egypt. Paul takes plea-
sure in reproaches for Christ's sake. The best
and most peaceable spirits cannot hope to fulfill

* Plularcb de capienda ex bostibus utilitaie libeUiu.

76

their course in a pacifique sea. The way. of the
/ ll most excellent lieth through evil report and good
report, through honor and dishonor. To avoid
the fouler part of the passage, is not in the
power of man : to walk clean through it, to do
well, and approve himself as a minister of Christ
in suffering ill, is all that can be expected from
a man of God. Erasmus acknowledging some
men to do well in some things, will have Hierom
to excell in all.* It was a great encomium
which the German Phenix sometimes gave to
Luther : I (saith he, s|>eaking of himself) am a
logician, Pemeranus is a grammarian^ Justus
Jonas is an orator ; but Lvther is all. Let it
suffice to be said of Mr. Cotton, that he was a
famous light in his generation, a glory to both
Eriglands, and such an one, in whom was so
much of what is desireable in man, as is rarely
to be seen in one person.

As concerning any tenet wherein he may
seem singular, remember he was a man, and
therefore to be heard and read with judgment,
and haply sometimes with favour. Hierom
makes a difference between reading the writings
of the apostles, and the tractates of other au-

* In hoc uuo avXXriBdrjv ut aiunt, conjunctum fuit. exi-
miam fuit, quicqaid in aliis per paries miramar. — Erasm. episU
incupat. prsefixa torn. 3. epist. Hieron.

mmm fuit; quicqaia in aliis per paries n
nuncupat. prsefixa torn. 3. epist. Hieron.

77

thors :* They (saith he) always spake the truth ;
these, as men, in some things erre. Let him
but receive v^ith some proportion to the measure
that he gave, and he will be fodnd no debtor
upon that account : no man did more placidly
bear a dissentient. The Jews unto their own
question, Why Asd and lehoshaphat removing
the idols in liigh places took not also away the
brazen serpent, give this answer : The fathers
left a place for Hezekiah to exercise his zeal.
That great conqueror, Alexander, vainly feared,
that his father Philip* s victories would deprive
the son of an opportunity to improve his magna-
nimity. Much of the wisdom of God, both in
the Scripture and creature, is still unseen ; and
it hath been judged but meet, that each age
should contribute somewhat toward the fuller
discovery of truth. But this cannot be, except
men of a larger acumen, and greater industry,
may be permitted to communicate their notions;
especially whilst (as Austin in his time) they
use this liberty by way of disquisition, not of
position ; rather as indagators of scripture-light,
then as dictators of private opinions.! A pro-

* Scio me aliter habere apostolos alitcr reliquas tractatores,
&LC. — Hier. ep. to. 2. ep. tua.

t Non tanquam affirmator, sed tanquam* scratator.— Au^.
Psal. 85.

7»

78

phet msij be heard, whilst he-speaks with a i^irit
subject to the prophets.*

These are the times that passed over him :
we are now approaching to nis jifmssima verba,
his last words ; which the antients, eat of an
opinion that the soul became mor^ divine towards
its dissolution, looked a^ ,as or;^culous. The
motions of nature ar^ more intense, as they
draw neer towards the centre. Xenojphun per-
sonates Cyrus as inspired, whilst he bequeathes
his fatherly and farewell counsels to his people,
friends, and sons. Davids last words have
their emphasis, because his vlast : — now these
are the last "Words of David,

Being called to preach at a neigh bor-church,
he took wet in his passage over the ferry, and
not many hours after he felt tlie effect, being
seized upon with an extreme illness in the ser-
mon. This providence, when others, bewailing
the sad event which according to second causes
seemed so easily evitable, spake variously of, he
comforted himself from — In that he was found
so doing. Decet imperatorem stantem coder e ;
It is the honor of a commander to fall standing.
It was Austin's usual wish, that Christ when he
came might find him q^t precantem, aut predi'

* See Appendix, Note V.

79

cantem, either praying, or preaching. Calvin
returns this answer unto his friends, disswading
him from his labor of dictating and writing,
when his sichpess prevailed upon him ; What
(saith he) would you that the Lord should find
me idle?* After a short time he complained of
an inflammation of the lungs, and thereupon
found himself asthmatical, afterwards scorbutica!,
(which both meeting in a complicated disease,
ended his days) insomuch that he was forced to
give over those comforting drinks which his
stomack could not but want. If he stil used
them, the inflammation 'grew insufferable, and
threatried a more sharp and speedy death : If
he left them, his stomack forthwith ceased to
perform its office, leaving him without hope of
life. By tjie^e messengers he received the sen-
tence of death, jet in the use of means attending
the pleasure of him in whose hand our times
are, his labors continued whilst his strength
failed. November 18, he took in course for his
text the four last verses of the 2d epistle to
Timothi/f Salute Prisca and Aquila, S^c, giving
the reason of speaking to so many verses to-
gether, because otherwise, he said, he should
Dot live to make an end of that epistle. He

>

* Quid ergo (inquiebat) vultis me otiosum k domino depre-
hepdi ?— In yiu Cal.

80

chiefly insisted upon those words, Grace he with
you alii so ending that epistle and his lectures
together. For upon the Lord's day followingi
he preached his last sermon upon John 1. 14.
And the Word was madejlesh, and dweU among
us J (and we beheld his glory, as of the only be-
gotten Son of the Father,) full of grace and
peace.

Now, he gave himself wholly to prepare for
bis dissolution, making his will, and setting his
house in order.* When he could no more be
seen abroad, all sorts, magistrates, ministers,
neighbors, friends far off, and those neer at
hand, especially his own people, resorted unto
him daily, as to a publique father. When the
neighbor ministers visited him (in which duty
they were frequent) he thanked them affection-
ately for their love, exhorting them also, as an
elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, to
feed the flock ; encouraging them, that when the
chief shepherd shal appeare, they should receive
a crown of glory, that fadeth not away. Find-
ing himself to grow weake, according to that of
James ^ he sent for the elders of the church of
Boston to pray over him : which last solemne
duty being performed, not without much affec-

* See Appendix; Note W.

81

tion and many tears, then (as PoUcarp a little
before bis death said, he had served Christ four-
score and six years, neither had he ever offended
him in any thing*) so he told them, through
grace he had now served God forty years, it
being so long since his conversion : throughout
which time, he had ever found him faithful to
him. Thereupon taking occasion to exhort them
unto like effect that Paul sometimes did the
elders of Epkesus^ a little before they were to
see his face no more : Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the Jlock, over which tht
Lord hath made you overseers^ to feed the church
6f Godf which he hath purchased with his own
hhod. Particularly he lamented the love of
many, yea, and some of their own congregation,
growing cold to the ordinances ; calling upon
them so much the more for their watchfulness
in that respect. Which done, he thanked them
for their brotherly and loving assistance to hifti
in their holy fellowship, and commended them to
the blessing of God.

It remains that we now behold his pious con-
sort, with those olive-plants that sate lately about
his table, gathered together about the bed of a
departing husband, and dying father. This was

^ Octoginta sex aonos illi servio, nee me ulla in re l«esit uu-
quam. — Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 15.

J

82

his ultimate solemne transaction with man in
this world ; silver and gold (though he wanted
not) he had not much to give them, but the
benediction of a righteous parent they are to
expect. JBneas* worda to his Ascanius are
fitted to his lips,

Disce puer virtutem ex me, verdmque laborenu
Fortunam ex aliis.*

'* Sons, piety and industry learn of me; the
way to greatness in this ^i/t^orld ib to be learned
of others."

Antiquity treasured up the counsels of dying
parents, as so many oracles Isaac is soil ici tons
to blesse, and his sons desirous to be blessed,
before his death. The father of the faithful his
commanding of his children after him to keep
the way of the Lord, is a means whereby God
brings upon Abraham that which he had spoken
of him. Solomon^ who remembers the prophesie
that his mother taught him, surely hears that
charge of his father still sounding in his ears,
And thou, Solomon^ my son, S^c, 1 know his
children whom he instrurnentally blessed, shall
be blessed in their relation, in these charges,
commands, counsels, blessina, whilst they walk
in the way of their father, and keep the memory

iEneid. 12.

83

of his example, and his endeavors relating ta
them, in the repository of a pure conscience.

Aodit parseis, ergo nil beatias ;

Id patre vivit gnatus, in gnato pater.

What family more happy then his, whilst the
father liveth in the children, as the children live
in their father. That reverend and godly man
Mr. Wilsort, (who excelleth in love, as Mr. Cot-
ton did in light,) the faithful pastor of the church,
taking bis leave of him, and most ardently pray-
ing unto God that he would lifl up the light
of his countenance upon him, and shed his
love into his soul ; he presently answered him
in these words : He hoik done it already ,
brother.

His work now finished with all men, perceiv-
ing his departure to be at hand, and having
nothing to do» only that great work of dying in
the Lord, he totally composed and set himself
for his dissolution, desiring that he might be
permitted to improve the little remnant of his life
without any considerable impediment to his pri-
vate devotions, and divine soliloquies between
God and his soul. For that end, he caused the
curtains to be drawn ; and a gentleman and
brother of the congregation that was much with
him^ and ministred nnto him in his sickness, to

84

promise him, that the chamber should be kept
private. But a while after, hearing the whisper-
ing of some brethren* in the room, he called for
that gentleman, saying, Why do you break your
word with me? An expression so circumstanced,
as that the impression thereof abideth unto this
day in the heart of that godly man, whose omis-
sion gave him occasion so to speak. Not long
after (mindful no doubt of that great helpfulness
which he received from that forementioned
brother throughout his visitation) he left him
with this farewel : The God that made you,
and bought you with a great price, redeem your
body and soul unto himself. These words were
his i^ihdia QrjfiarB^ his last words, after which
he was not heard to speak, but lying some hours
speechless, quietly breathed out his spirit into
the hands of him that gave it, December 23,
1652, betwoen eleven and twelve (after the bell
had called to the lecture, thus preventing the
assembly in going to see, what they were but
going to hear) being entred into the sixty and
eighth year of his age. So ceased this silver-
trumpet, waiting for the sound of the last trump.
The eyes of his dead body were soon closed ;
but before that, the eye of his ever-living soul
beholds the face of Jesus Christ.
Upon the 29th day^ the body was interred

85

trithin a tomb of brick, a numerous confluefiCd
of all degrees, fron% all parts, as the season
would permit, orderly accompanying the corpse,
borne upon the shoulders of his fellow-ministers
unto the chambers of death ; not only with sighs
and tears, and funeral-poems,* all in abundance,
but with the solemnity of sorrow of heart itself,
alas! too manifest in the carriage and count-
enance of those, whose visage was as the visage
of them which are bereaved of the breath of
their nostrils. The inhabitants of the land
might have said. This was .a great mourning.
Such were JVew- England's tears for the man of
their desires ; of whom they (and especially his
own congregation) cannot speak without lamen-
tation unto this day,—

Fuimas Troes, fuit Ilium :

New-England was, and fk)uns)>ed.

Now our candlesticks cannot but lament in
darkness, when their lights are gone ; and the
thrones of David mourn, that bo many of oar
late worthies can be seen there no more : our
desiderable men that remain, remove from us,
and few they are who return again. And as for
those that rise up amongst ourselves, such is the
portion of this Jerusalem, (that though fer ber

* See Appendix, Note X.

8

*i:

86

time she hath not been an unfruitful motheiV
yet) they are but few that ^ill guide her amongst
all the sons which she hath brought forth, yea,
very few that take, her by tlie hand of all the
sons which she hath brought up. Thus are our
trials increased, and our strength decreased,
that we might learn to trust in God. What the
counsel of the Lord is concerning the bereaved
churches of Ntw-England^ is a solemn and
awful meditation.

The non-considering that the righteous are
taken away from the evil to come, was a sympto-
matica! and threatening incogitancie in JLaiah's
days. Sure we are that Tosiah was gathered
unto his fathers, that he might not see the evil
that was to come upon Jerusalem. Augustine
is taken out of the world, before Hippo is taken
by the Vandals. ParcBus is gotten to his better
country, before Heidelbergh and the Palatinate
are delivered into the power of the enemies.
Whatsoever it be, we may not here silence that
monitory* apparition in the heavens that appear-
ed about fourteen days before, and according to
the report of some observers thereof was not
seen here, after this man of God was taken
from amongst us. It was a profane jest of Ves^

* O quantum dilecte Deo, cui miJitat eether.

87

pasiaUf who seeing a bearded comet, said, This
prodigie belongs to the king of Parthia that
wears long hair ; meaning it did not belong unto
himself, who wore short hair: But soon. after
followed the death, not of the king of Parthia,
but of Vespasian, It was a Christian and imi«
table speech of Lodowick the First, who unto
his astronomer, seeing him observing the comet,
and (to prevent an ominous and afflicting con-
struction in the emperor's heart) alledging those
words in the prophet, Be not dismayed at the
signs of heaven^ thus replied, Timeamus Condi-
torem hujus comefce, Let us fear the Creator of
this comet, not the comet itself; and let ug
praise his clemencie, who vouchsafeth to ad-
monish our sluggishness with such signs.

Many instances we have in history of dissea-
tion in religion, and heresies following upon
these meteors. A comet preceded the furies of
the enthusiasts in Germany, 1533, the genuine
offspring of whom is that generation commonly
known by the name of Quakers. Comets are
signal, though not causal : they are signal as to
changes of divine providence which befall men,
though they have no causal influence upon the
minds of men. And be it so, that in themselves
simply considered, future events, whether good
or evil, are illegible ; yet when they are placed

88

in conjunction with scripture-predictions con-
cerning the iniquities of men, ripening for the
execution of divine vengeance, being interpre-
ted according to the word of their Creator, they
are not without instruction*

Mr. Cotton (upon his enquiry after the motion
of this comet) being asked what he himself con-
ceived of it, answered. That he thought it por-
tended great changes in the churches. But
that which further calleth upon us, not to be un-
mindful of sadder vicissitudes probably impend-
ing, is the formidable apostacie both from the
order and faith of the gospel, appearing and
threateninof us in this acre. Christ mentions
prodigious tenets of false prophets, and false
Christs arising, as (sometimes at the least) sig-
nal of publick calamities.t As the concurrence
of multitude of heresies and mutability in reli-
gion, which gave occasion to that opprobrious
and horrid proverb, Pirlts mrtistrun, was a means
to bring in antichrist : so the present vexation
of consciences, and of the civil estates with un-
certainty and manifold heresie in matter of faith,
hath no small tendencie to brinor Iwck the in-
fallible chair. People will accept of a quiet har-
bor, though upon hard conditions, rather then
be afflicted with continual tossings in stormy

* See Appendix, Note Y. t Matlh. 2^.

89

seas. 'Tis natural to man to covet any quiet
land, rather then to dwell with the terror of a
continual earthquake.

Heu pietas, heu prisca fides !

It was no despicable stratagem of the M ..
serpent, knowing the time of the passion of
Christ, and of the baptism of the apostles with .
(he baptism wherewith he was to be baptized
then approaching, to indispose the minds of the
disciples thereunto, by possessing them with a
pleasing but false expectation of a glorious arid .
temporal kingdom of Christ in this world to be *
at hand. Persecution doubtless had been a
more suitable meditation for lames than to seek
great things for himself; who notwithstanding
his dream of a kingdom, was not long after kil*
led by the sword of Herod. Time will shew,
whether we have more cause to fear the death
of the witnesses yet to come, or to conclude the
time of their sackcloth to be over. His adver*
tisement seeraeih weighty that telleth us : A
credulous security of their death as past^ if yet
to come, is a more perillous error, than the expeo
tation of it as to come^ though already past.*

* Pius siquidein ad pietatem valet calamhatis futurse expec-
iatio, quam credula nimis de ea quasi jam traiuacta securitas.
ffsad Com. Apoc. cap. 11.

8*

90

An awful waiting for a calamity conduceth more
to. piety, than a secure putting from us the
thoughts of the evil day. The disciples, not
minding the prediction of Christ's sufferings,
but over-minding an external state of glory,
meeting with the cross, were so offended, as
that they were not free from sad misgivings of
heart concerning their Saviour : 3ut we trusted
thai it had been he that should have redeemed
Israel, Whereas on the other hand, the poor
Allngenses, fighting the battles of Christ Jesu6
in defence of the gospel against Simon Montfort^
though overcome by him with a great slaughter,
and upon that advantage of providence taken,
sollicited by the bishop of Tholouse, (then in-
terceding for them) that now God, having by
the event of war determined for the Romanists
against them, they would return from their
heresie unto the Catholick faith ; they (at such
a time) having seasonably in their hearts that
prophecie, And it was given unto them to make
war with the saints, and to overcome them ; *
answered, that they were the people of God ap-
pointed to be overcome. Thus they strength-
ened their faith, by being overthrown ; they
overcame the temptation, by being overcome ;

* Revel. 13. 7.

91

find 80 not accepting of deliverance, were all
islain to a man. Poor Albigenses looking sear
jBonably at calamities to come, overcome; the
.disciples looking unseasonably at a kingdom to
«on>e, are overcome.

Times are in the hands of God, and to dis-
iCern the times is the gift of God. Being de-
signed to suffer is not so great an evil, as grace
io suffer for the designer's sake is good : the
condition of the witnesses is higher in the
promises of the great God, then it is low in the
street of the great city. I'heir ascension into'
heaven after three days and a half is legible
Jong before their death. Athanasius seeth
through the storm, and comforteth his, fellow-
sufferer's that Julianas persecution is but a little
cloud, and will quickly be over.* That motto,
somewhat altered by them of Geneva^ is in this
sense as true, and as truly alterable concerning
every confessor ; After darkness we look for
light.f Whether it be an astonishment of heart,
or the dictate of the Spirit, Luther leaveth the
cause of religion howsoever unto Christ ; I
(saith he) am not much troubled : yea, 1 hope
as concerning the event above what 1 hoped.
God is able to raise up the dead : God is able

*^^'^^^"^— " ' "* ■■■■■II , I ■ ■ ■■ I ■ ^11 ■ . I. ■ , ■ ^, » ■ „ , mm^mmm^mt

* Nut>0cula est, cit6 prsteribit, f Po9t tenebnu liuu

92

to preserve his cause, though falling ; to raise it
up again, though falne ; to promote it when
standing ; if we be not worthy, let it be done by
others.'*' Jacob foretelling the predetermined
and afflicting vicissitudes concerning the tribes
of Israel, comforts himself in a safe issue of all,
as to religion, and the sincere professors thereof,
thus : 1 have waited for thy sahation, O God !
Salvation is a full remedy : and then is opportu-
nity for the salvation of God, when the church's
tribulation is such, as, that out of it, none but
God can save.

The fixing of a beleever's eye aright, hath a
vivifical and marvellpus influence upon his heart.
Christ beholding the joy that was set before
him, endured the cross, despising the shame.
A Christian runneth cheerfully and undefiledly
over the foulest part of the race set before him,
looking unto Jesus, The council looking on
Stephen saw his face as it had been the face of
an angel : the reason is, Stephen looked sted-
fastly into heaven, and seeth the Son of man
standing at the right hand of God. The best of
the servants of God have lived in the worst
times. Noah was not so unhappy that he lived
in an unrighteous generation, as he was happy

* Stupor ue sit an Spiritvis viderit Cbristus nou vald^ turba*
tus sum, &C. — ^Mel. Adam, ia vita Lutberi.

93

in being righteous in that geneiation. Though
the captivity took up so much of DanieVs life,
yet when he shall stand in his lot at the end of
days, it shall be no griefe of heart unto him,
that he was both to spend and end his days in
Rahylim. It will be as well with those at that
day who fulfilled their course upon earth, pro^-
phesying in sackcloth, as with those who are
reserved to live in the glorious times of the
gospel. It is not material in what age we live ;
but that we iive as we ought in that age wherein
yie live.

Moriar ego morte justorum, et sit finis meus sicut illius.

Collected out of the writinirs and information of the
Reverend Mr. John Davenport^ Pastor of the
Church ^tJSTew-Haven ; the Reverend Mr. Samuel
Whitinsr* Pastor of the Church at Linne ; the
pious Widow of the Deceased, and others.

And compiled by his unworthy Successor,
Qui

A long^ sequitur vestigia semper adorans.^
Boston, Novemb. 6, 1657.

See Appeudix, Note Z.

'i

\'i

APPENDIX^

Note A.

Rev. William Perkins was bom at Marston, War>
wickshire, A. D. 1556. He was educated at Christ Col-
lege, Cambridge, of which he was a Fellow at the time
referred to in the Memoir. He was an eminently holy
man, and a strict Calvinist. His writings, translated
into Dutch, drew upon him the attacks of Arminius and
his associates, and are thought to have had influence in^
preparing the way for the calling of the Synod of Dort^
He died in 1602, aged 46.

NoteB.

Dr. John Preston was Master of Emanuel College^
Cambridge. During the residence of Mr. Cotton in
England, Dr. Preston made it his practice to visit him
every year, and used to *^ advise his near fledged pupils
to so and live with him, that they mi^ht be fitted for
public service ; insomuch that it grew into a proveiby
that Jfcfr. Cotton was Dr. Preston's seasoning vessel."

Note C.

Sozomen*8 account of^ this heathen philosopher is sub^
stantially as follows : He had come to Nice for the pur-
pose of displaying his learning, and opposing and derid-
ing the siinple-hearted Christians. An ola Christian,
who had suTOied with magnanimous constancy during:

96

the late persecutions, undertook to dispute with him. *
Some were ready to raise a laugh at the old man's ex-
pense ; while serious spirits were distressed to witness a;
contest apparently so unequal. Respect for the man.-
however, induced them to permit him to engage ; and
he immediately addressed the philosopher in these terms :
* Hear, O philosopher, in the name of Jesus Christ.
There is one God, the maker of heaven and earth, and
of all things visible and invisible, who made all these
things bv the power of his Word, and confirmed them
by tne holiness of his Spirit. This Word, whom wo-
call the Son of God, compassionating the sons of meir
involved in error and wickedness, chose to be bom of a
woman, to converse with men, and to die for them ; and
he will come again, the Jud^ of all things which men'
have done in the body. That these things are so, we
in simplicity believe. Do not then labor in vain, seeking
to confute things which ought to be received by faith,
and investigating the manner in which these things may
or may not be ; but if thou belie vest, answer me, now
that I ask thee.' Struck with this plain, authoritative
address, the philosopher said, ' / do believe.* He with
pleasure owned himself vanquished ; adopted the senti-
ments of the old man ; and advised the other philoso-
phers present to do the same, declaring that he was
changed by a divine influence, and moved by an ener^
which he could not explain.— Sozomeuy Book 1, cliap. 18.

Note D.

Dr. Mather says that the mayor of Boston [Eng.] and a
corrupt party of the citizens were opposed to Mr. Uolton,
and desirous of obtaining another person j that " when
the matter came to a vote, there was an equi-vote for
Mr. Cotton and that other person ; and that, by a strange
mistake, the mayor, who had a casting vote, pricked vat
Mr. Cotton. When the mistake was discovered, a new
vote was urged and granted, which again proved an
equi-vote ; and the mayor most unaccountably mistook
again, as he did before. Extremely displeased hereat,
he pressed for a third vote, but the rest would not con^
sent to it ; and so the choice fell upon Mr. Cotton, by
the involuntary cast of that very hand which had most
opposed it."

97

NoteE.

Mr. Cotton was settled, several years before the
Synod of Dort, while the Arrainian controversy was
rife in the low countries, and had just begun to be agita-
ted in England. His own account of his manner of
treating it is as follows : " When I was first called to
Boston in Lincolnshire, so it was that Mr. Baron, son of
Dr. Baron (Divinity reader at Cambridge) first broached
that which was then caPed Lutheranism, since Armini-
anism^ being himself learned, acute, plausible in dis-
course, and fit to insinuate into the hearts of his neigiv
bors. And though he were a physician by profession,
and of good skill in that art, yet he spent the greatest
strength of his studies in clearing and promoting the
Arminian tenets. Whence it came to pass that m all
the great feasts of the town, the chiefest discourse at the
table did ordinarily fall upon Arminian points, to the
great offence of godly ministers both in Boston and the
neighbor towns. I, coming among them a young man,
thought it a part both of modesty and prudence not to
speak much to the points at first among strangers and
ancients ; until afterwards, afler hearing of many dis-
courses in public meetings, and much private discourse
with the doctor, I had learned at length where aJl the
great strength of the doctor lay. And then observing
(by the strength of Christ) how to avoid such expres-
sions as gave him any advantage, I began publicly to
preach, and in private meetings to defend, the doctrine
of God's eternal election before all foresight of good or
evil in the creature ; and the redemption (ex gratia) only
of the elect ; the ef^ctual vocation of the sinner by irre-
sistible grace, without all respect of the preparations of
firee will ; and the impossibility of the fall of a sincere
believer either totally or finally from a state of grace.
Hereupon, when the doctor had objected many tnings,
and heard mv answers to those scruples which he was
wont most plausibly to urge, present! jr afler, our public
feasts and neighborly meetings were silent from ail fur-
ther debates about predestination, or any of the points
.which depend thereupon, and all matters of religion
were carried on calmly and peaceably."

9

98

NoteF.

Mather says that the Earl of Dorchester came into^
Lincolnshire *^ about the draining of some fenny £rround».
Mr. Cotton was then, in his course of preaching, on
Gal. ii. 20, intending to preach on the duty of limng by
faith in adversity ; but considering that noblemen were
not much acquainted with afiSictions, he altered his in-
tentions, and discoursed on the duty of living by faith in
prosperity. The nobleman was so much taken^ with
what he heard, that he assured Mr. Cotton, if at any
time he should want a friend at court, he would improve
all his interest in his favor.''

Note G.

It may be proper here to extract the following brier
notice of the success of Mr. Cotton's labors in the place
6f his first settlement. " The good Spirit of God," we
are told, " so plentifully and powerfully accompanied
his ministry, that a great reformatian was thereby
wrought in the town of Boston. Profaneness was ex-
tinguished; superstition was abandoned; and religion
was embraced and practised among the body of the
people. Yea, the mayor and most of the magistrates-
were now called Puritans, and the Satanical party was
become insignificant." "There were moreover some
scores of pious people in the town, who more exactly
formed themselves into an Evangelical church state, by
entering into covenant with God and with one another,
to follow after the Lord in the purity of his worship. It
was the main bent and aim of Mr. Cotton's ministry, to
preach a crucified Saviour."

NoteH.

Mather savs, that " the renowned Mr. John' Rogers of
Dedham, [ffngland,] having been, on his lecture day,
just before going to preach, advised, that Mr. Cotton
was brought into trouble, took occasion to speak of it in
the sermon ; and, among others, used words to this pur-
pose : < As for that man who hath caused a faithful
pastor to be driven from his flock, he is a wisp, used by
the hand of God to scour his people with; but mark tfaier

99

words now spoken by a minister of the Lord : I am
verily persuaded the judgments of God will overtake the
man that has done this thin^. Either he will die under
an hedffe; or something else, more than the ordinary
death or men, shall befal him.' Now behold, how this
prediction was accomplished! This miserable man,
quickly after, died of the plague under an hedge in
Yorkshire ; and it was a long ti^le ere any comd be
founti that would buiy him" ! !

Note I.

Mr. Dod's counsel was of the following import: "I
am old Peter, and therefore must stand still and bear the
brunt. But you aie young Peter, and may go where
you will ; and being persecuted in one city, you ought
to flee into another. '

Mr. Cotton, speaking of the spiritual courts, before
which he must have appeared if he had not concealed
himself, says, " They are like the courts of the high
priests andf Pharisees, which Solomon, by a spirit of
prophecy, styleth dens of lions, and mountains of leop-
ards. And those who have to do with them have found
them markets of the sins of the people, the cages of un-
cleanness, the forges of extortion, the tabernacles of
bribery, and contrary to the end of civil government,
which is for the punishment of evU-doers, and the praise
pf them that do well."

Note J.

The story of Luther's concealment at Wartburg (not
Wittenburg) is familiar to every reader of Ecclesiastical
History. See Murdock's Mogheira, vol. iii. p. 34. Pa-
rssus was theological professor at Heidelburg. His re*-
treat, to which Mr. Norton refers, was in the suburbs of
the city. Here he died in 3622. Jerome's "den at
Bethlehem " was a monastery prepared for him at that
place by his friend and patroness, Paula. Here he spent
the latter part of his life, and died A. D. 422, in the 91st
year of his age.

NoteK.
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom in the

100

reign of Maieus Antoninus. He did not run in the way
of his persecutors, but prudently concealed himself from
them. However, when he was discovered he made no
resistance, but cheerfully submitted, saying, the wUl of
the Lord be clone. Athanasius, in the couise of his
stormy life, was obliged repeatedly to conceal himself
from the rage of his persecutors. In one instance, he re-
mained four months concealed in his father's sepulchre.
He died A. D. 373.

Note L.

Mr. Cotton came to New England in the ship Griffin,
in company with Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone; which
led the settlers to say, that God had supplied them with
what would in some sort answer their three great neces-
sities, viz. Cotton for clothing. Hooker for fishing, and
Stone for building. They had much difficulty in getting
out of England, all places being guarded to take Mr.
Cotton and Mr. Hooker, and ormg them before the
High Commission. But their passage ^was comfortable,
and comparatively short. For the most part, they had
three sermons or expositions on board the vessel every-
day ; one by Mr. Cotton in the morning, by Mr. Hooker
in the aflernoon, and by Mr. Stone in the evening.
They arrived at Boston (New England) just after the
people there had been, by solemn fasting and prayer,
•eekinff unto God, that he would send them over such
as might be eyes unto them in the wilderness, and might
strengthen themin discerning and following the truth.

Note M.

These sentences disclose the views with which our
forefathers commenced the settlement of this country.
They came here, not for purposes of ambition or gain,
but as members of the church of Christ, fleeing from
persecution, and hoping to enjoy unAiolested the wor-
ship and ordinances of the gospel. They intended that
their government should be a Theocracy, and' that none
should rule over them, who would not rule them in the
fear of God, and as subject to him. They wished to be
governed, not only in their church matters by the laws
of Christ, but in their civil matters by the laws of Grod.

101.

The conception was a noble one ; and if they made
some mistakes in carrying their plans into execution,
this was no more than might have been expected. Hav<
i»g come so far, and sufiered so much, for the purpose
of establishing themselves a separate people, and enjoy-
ing unmolested their peculiar views, they felt as though
other denominations had 'Uo right to intrude upon them ;
and in their efforts to suppress or exclude what they
considered as erroneous doctrine, they did not always
pay a due regard to the rights of conscience, or exem-
plify the mild and free spirit of the gospel. Perhaps, if
all circumstances were well considered, a sufficient
excuse might be furnished for their incorporating, in the
manner they did (at least for a time) religion with the
state ; though it is evident that this connection, in its
progress, 'had a disastrous influence. It served both to
embroil the state, and to secularize the church ; and laid
a foundation, there can be no doubt, for that lamentable
apostacy, in which not a few of the Pilgrim churches
are sunk. '

Note N.

Gov. Winthrop says, " It pleased, the Lord to give
special testimony of his presence in the church of
Boston, after Mr. Cotlon was called to office there.
]VJore were converted ai)d added to that church, than
to all the other churches ir^ the Bay, Diverse pro^EUi(9
arid notoriously evil persons came and confessed their
^\nBa arid were comfortably received into the bosom of
the church. Also the Lord was pleased greatly to bless
the practice of discipline, wherein he gave the pastor,
Mr. Wilson, a singular gifl, to the great benefit of the
church."

NoteO.

President Allen gives the following catalogue of Mr.
Cotton's writings :

God's Promise to his Plauitation: An Election Ser-
mon, in 1634. *

A Letter in Answer to (Obiections made against the
New JQngland Churches ; witn tihe Questions propos^^
|o sach as are admitted to cfauirch fellowship. 1^.

9^

102 V

The Way of Life. 4to.

God's mercy mixed with Justice.
y' An Abstract of the Laws of New England. 164L*

The Church's Resurrection; on the fifth and sixUi
yerses of the 20th chapter of Revelation.

An Answer to Mr. Ball's Discourse on set Forms -of
Praver.

fl^xposition of Revelation, xvi.

The true Constitution of a Particular, Visible Church.
1643.

The Keys of the Kingdom of Pleaven, and power
thereof. 1644.

The Doctiine of the Church, to which is committed
the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Covenant of God's Free Grace most sweetly
unfolded. 1645.

The Way of the Churches of Christ in New England.

The Pouring out of the Seven Vials.

The Controversy concerning Liberty of Conscience
truly stated. 1646.

The Singing of Psalms a Gospel Ordinance. 1647.

The Grounds and Ends of the Baptism of Children.
1647.

A Letter to Mr. Roger Williams.

The Bloody Tenet washed and made white in the
Blood of the Lamb ; in Answer to Mr. Williams.

Questions propounded to Mr. Cotton by the Teaching
Elders, with his Answer to each Question.

The Way of Conwregational Churches cleared, in two
Treatises, against Mr. Baylie and Mr. Rutherford. 1648.

The Holiness of Church Members, proving that Visible
faints are the matter of the Church. 1650.

Christ the Fountain of Life. 1651.

A brief Exposition of Ecclesiastes. 1652.

A Censure upon the Way of Mr. Henden of Kent.

Sermons on the first Epistle of John. Folio.

A Discourse on things indifferent; proving that no
church Governors have power to impose indifferent
things upon the Consciences of Men.
.— : it

* Thi« abstract of lach law* of the Jews as were aopposed to be
of perpetual obligation wai drawn op in 1636. It k pratirvfd i«
Vol, Sik of tJie Maw. Hiitorical CoUeotiooi.

103

Exposition of Canticles.
Milk for*Babes : a Cateehism.
Meat for Strong Men.

A Discourse about CiTil Government m a Plantation
whose design is religion.

Note P.

Rev. John Bradford, a bold and faithful i^rvant of
Christ. He studied at Cambridge under the celebrated
Martin Bucer, and sufiered martyrdom in the . second
year of Queen Mary's reign. — Synesius was Bishop of
rtolemais and flourished at the beginning of the fifth
century. His Epistles and Homilies are much esteemed.

Note Q.

Rev. William Ames was educated at Cambridge, under
Mr. Perkins; and after fleeing from persecution in his
native land, became minister of the English church at
the Hague. He afterwards was Professor of Divinity at
Franeker — was a merAber of the Synod of Dort — and
was on the point of removing to New England, at the
time of his death, in 1633. He wrote several valuabla
treatises against the Arminians.

Note R.

Among those of whom Mr. Davenport hers iJpMk*
were thfe celebrated Dr. Goodwin, and Mr. Nye. These
men had not seen sufiicient reason, as yet, to expose
themselves to persecution for the sake of non-conformity;
and they sought an interview with Mr. Cotton, hoping
to persuade him nxther to conform, than to leave Im
work and his land. But instead of bringing Mr. Cotton
back to what he had now forsaken, he brought them off
from what they had hitherto practised. They all reftised
further conformitv to the enioined ceremonies, and soon
After were obliged to leave the kingdom.

NoteS.

Other instances, illustrating the meek spirit of this
ezoeUtat man, may be given.-— Having observed to a

104 *

person ; who boasted of his knowledge o£ the book of
Revelation, that he wanted light on those mysterious
subjects, the man went home and sent him a pound of
candles; which insolence only excited a smile. "Mr.
Cotton," says Mather, " would not set the beacon of his
great soul on fire, at the landing of such a little cock-
boat."

A drunken fellow, to make sport for his companions,
approached Mr. Cotton in the street, and whispered ii^
his ear, " Thou art an old fool." The good man replied,
*^ I confess I am so; — the Lord make botli me and the^
wiser than we are^— even wise upto salvation."

Note T.

There is an allusion here to the disturbances occa?
sioned by Mrs, Hutchinson, and her adherents. The
following is Mr. Cotton's account of tjie manner iqi
which he was treated, and for a time imposed upon, by
these fanatics:

"There was a generation of Familists in our town,
who, under pretence of holding forth what I had taught
touching union with Cjirist and evidencing that union,
did secretly vent sundry aijd dangerous errors and hercr
sies, denying all inherent righteousness, and all evidenc-
ing of a good estate thereby ip any sort ; and some of
them also denying the immortality of the soul, and the
resurrection of the body. When they were questioned
bv some brethren about these things, they cariied it as
if they had held forth nothing but what* they had re-
ceived from me. "Wherefore, when 1 was advised to
clear myself, | publicly preached against those errors. —
Then said the brethren to the erring party, * See, your
teacher declares himself plainly to differ from you.'
* No matter,' say tlie others, i what he saith in public ;
we understand him otherwise; and we know what he
saith tP us in private.' Yea, and I myself could not
easily believe that those erring brethren and sisters were
so corrupt in tlieir judgments, as they were reported ;
they seeming to me lorward Christians, and utterly
denying any such tenets, or any thing else but what they
had received of me. All which bred in sundry of the
country a jealousy^ that I^ was io secret A fomenter of

105

the spirit of Familism, if not leavened myself that way.
But when, at the Synod, I discovered the corruption of
the judgment of the erring brethren, and saw their
fraudulent pretence of holding f^rth no other but what
they received from me, / thereupon did bear witness
against them.''

Gov. Winthrop says, "Mr. Cotton, finding how he
had been abused by Mrs. Hutchinson and her party, and
had been made (as himself said) their stalJang horsey
did spend most of his time, both publicly and privately,
to discover these errors, and to reduce such as nad gone
astray/*

NoteU.

Dr. Mather says of Mr. Cotton, that he "was most ex-
emplary for his liberality and hospitality. The stranger
and the needy were entertained at his table episcopalUer
and benigne. Indeed, he used to say, that if a man want
an heart for this charity, it is not fit that he should be
ordained as a minister. — While Mr. Cotton lived quietly
in England, he was noted for his bountiful disposition,
especially to ministers driven into England by the storms
of persecution then raging in Germany ; for which cause
the German sufierers used to style him, Fautor doctissi-
mus, clarissinmsjjidelissimus, pfurimumque honorandtis."

" The gathering of the second church in Boston was
much to the disadvantage of Mr. Cotton, in many of his
interests. Nevertheless, he was a John who reckoned
his joy fulfilled in this, that in his own decrease, the
interests of the Lord Jesus Christ would increase; and
therefore, with m exemplary self-denial, he set hunself
to encourage the fbondation of that church."

Note V.

It will be inferred firom this paragraph, that Mr. Cot- \
ton's theology was not quite up to the standard of
Mr. Norton's. Mr. Cotton, however, was a decided^-;;

Calvinist. Of Calvin, he used to say, " I have read the ■

Fatheis, and the schoolmen, and Calvin too; but 1 find I

that he that has Calvin, has them all." And being j

asked why, in his latter years, he indulged noctumai j
studies more than formerly, he replied, " Because I love

/
(

106

to sweeten fftj mouth with a piece of Calvin, before 1
sleep.'*

Note W.

Mftther Bays, that afler preaching his last sermon,
Mr. Cotton '* spent a day in that stiufy, which had been

Jerfumed with many such days before — a day in secret
omiliation and supplication before the Lord, seeking
the special assistance of the Holy Spirit for the great
work of dying which was now before him. "What glo-
rious transactions mi^ht one have heard passing between
the Lord Jesus Christ and his excellent servant, now
comina unto him, if he could have had a hearing place
behind the hangings of the chamber in that day! But
haying finished the duties of the day, he took his leave
of his beloved study, saying to his consort, ' I shall go
^to that room no more.' "

Note X.

From one of these " funeral poems," written by a
Mr. Woodbridge, the following lines may be extracted.
It has been thought that the first ten of them suggested
to Dr. FrankUn the Epitaph which he composed for
himself. The last six show the estimation in which
Mr. Norton was held by his cotemporaries.

*' A living, breathing Pible — tables where
Bolh covenants at large engraves were ;
Gnapel and law in *8 heart had each its colninn,
His head an index to the sacred volume;
His very name a title page ; and next
His life a coipmentary on the text.

O what a monument of glorious worth,
When in a new edition he comes forth!
Without errata msf we think heUI be,
In loaves and coven of eternity.^'

^ But let his mourning flock be comforted,
Though Moses &«, Joshua U not dead ;
T mean renowned Norton ; worthy he,
Buccessor to our Moses is to be.
O happy Israel in America,
lo auch a Moses, aueb a Joshua.**

Note Y.
Among the phenomena of the heavens, none have

107

been regarded with more superstitious i^preheiisicvii
than comets; and it is no discredit to such men atf
Cotton and Norton that they partook of the. general
feeling of their age. But through the labors of Newtoa
and ifalle^, the mystery and fear whicrb used to follow
in the train of comets have been removed ; their orbits
have been measured ; their return is calculated ; and
their appearance now is regarded as having no more in-'
fluence upon the fate of men or nations, than the ap*
pearance of the moon, or the stars.

mtc z,

Mr. Cotton, we are told, was of " a clear, fair, satt*'
guine complexion, and like David of a ruddy counte-
nance. He was rather low than tall, and rather fat than
lean J but of a becoming mediocrity. In his younger
years, his hair was brown ; but in his latter years, as
white as the driven snow. In his countenance, there
was an inexpressible majesty, which commanded reve-
rence from all that approached him. His voice was not
loud, but it Was so clear and distinct, that it was heard
with ease by the largest auditory ; and his utterance wa»
accompanied by a natural and becoming motion of his
right hand. He preached with such life, dignity, and
majesty, that Mr. Wilson said, ' One almost thinks that
he hears the very prophet speak, upon whose words he
is dwellinff.' "

As ^ooa men loved and honored Mr. Cotton, so tdcr
wicked feared hira. " Thd keeper of the inn where ho
used to lodge when he went to Derby, his native place*
would profanely say to his companions, that he wished
Mr. Cotton were gone out of his house, for he was not
able to swear, while that man was under his foof."

By his second marriage, Mr. Cotton had three son0
and three daughters. His youngest son and eldest
daughter died, within a few days of each other, of the
small pox, in 1G49. Hi's eldest son, named Seaborn,
(from the circumstance of his having been born on ther
passage from England to America,) was settled in the.
ministry at Hampton, New Hampshire, and died in
1686. He was a good scholar, and an able preacher^
His second son, Johni^ was settled in the ministry at

73

108

Plymouth, Massachusetts, and afterwards at Charleston,
South Carolina. He was eminent for his knowledge of
the Indian language, and superintended the publication of
Eliot's Bible. Oi his two younger daughters, the eldest
was married to a merchant, but died in Tier youth. The
other was married to Dr. Increase Mather, and was the
mother of the celebrated Cotton Mather. She lived to a
good old age. — The widow of Mr. Cotton was after-
wards married to Mr. Richard Mather, fiUher of Increase,
and minister of Dorchester.

THE END.

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